Hofstadter,Richards; Social Darwinism an American Thought, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, in 1944.

Book Reviewed by Joseph Osorio

During the progressive period of the 19th Century (1860-1915), many philosophies were presented by writers and inspired men. One of these philosophers, that brought many thinkers to develop their own beliefs, was Charles Darwin and his “Origin of Species.”

Historian Richard Hofstadter, in his book Social Darwinism in the American Thought inspects the effects that Darwin and his writing had on the lives of many Americans and people the world over. Hofstadter's is a philosophical book
that inquires the reader to think thoroughly and pay much attention to what
he or she is reading. He also explains situations in history in which Darwinism and other philosophies where put into effect.

Robert Hofstadter was an American public intellectual during the 1950’s,and was also a professor of American History at Columbia University. Hofstadter became the iconic historian of postwar liberal consensus. His intellectual treatises and essays became illuminating to many people during his lifetime and still are today.

The University of Pennsylvania Press first published Hofstadter’s book, Social Darwinism in the American Thought, in 1944. Many say that this book showed the weaknesses of Hofstadter as a historian. The reason is because he did little research for this book. He based his writing on a big range of interdisciplinary imagination, producing very well written theories upon a slight base of evidence drawn from secondary sources, and not on manuscripts, and unpublished sources. After finishing this book, he received a lot of criticism on the interpretations for the book and how he derived this book. Hofstadter became a man who seemed to only believe what he read and only the way he interpreted his reading. He rejected the perspectives of other and would not agree if he disliked their beliefs. Therefore various historians find his books and essays very bias, resulting in the criticism of others.

During Darwin's life the most popular catchwords to describe his philosophy of natural selection became, “struggle for existence” and “survival of the fittest,” when applied to the life of man in society, it suggested that nature would provide that the best competitors in a competitive situation. The writings of Hofstadter were focused on this catchphrase of the “strongest will survive.” In the first part of his book, he gives a brief intro of the main philosophers that based their beliefs on Darwinism. But in the second half of the book he goes more in depth with the effects of Darwinism on the Protestant Church, future American generations, race, and the economy. For example, in one of his chapter he explains how a Darwinian mindset affected the outlook of influential thinkers in other fields.

Some believed Anglo-Saxons were the strongest race and everything was meant to be and could not be manipulated by individual or collective struggles of people. This sort of thinking became known as the Manifest Destiny in America; that the expansion of the English to the American continents was both justified and inevitable. These were just some few of the themes that he wrote about on his philosophical book. But the main theme of the book is the effects of Darwinism on society, and how it may have improved society for the better but also deteriorate the thinking of other.

Hofstadter becomes very critical in this book, and makes it hard for the reader to understand where he is coming from. First he tries to make you agree with contemporary society, that Darwinism was for the better, but then at the end of his thesis he twits your perception on Darwinism and says that it became something that affected society in a negative way.

His ending argument for the book was that nature makes it possible for us to have logic and moral sanctions that can be used in the future for the good of the people. Hofstadter’s ending thesis changes your whole mindset after what he has written in the whole book was wrong and what he writes in the few pages of the conclusion was the right choice to go from.

I believe Hofstadter may have written a good book, but he made it difficult for the reader to comprehend his viewpoint of the subject on social Darwinism. Overall, I felt that this subject was important to talk about, and it gave me insight on things that I did not know about Darwinism. But he could have made it a little more readable, and not so intellectual. He made really good points and examples, but at times had one, as a reader, lost on what he was trying get across. He could have made his writings more clear and precise. I felt that he went around the bush, talking about things hat could have been left out, but not really getting to the main point that he wanted, and not making his argument clear throughout his book. At the end Hofstadter rearranges ones thinking of Darwinism being beneficial to later on becoming a negative philosophy for the future. I would not recommend this book, unless you would like to take time to think and actually spend much time going in depth with the writing and philosophies of Social Darwinism.

All in all, it is an important book that bases its topic on an interesting philosophy that did, in fact, affect society during the 19th Century.