Product Description: This book examines Sir Joseph Banks' role in promoting "imperial science," in the context of the consolidation of the British State during a time of extraordinary upheaval. Under pressure from the American, French and Industrial revolutions, the State became interested in the possible uses of science for economic and strategic gain...read more

Product Description: Enlightenment botany was replete with sexual symbolism -- to the extent that many botanical textbooks were widely considered pornographic. Carl Linnaeus's controversial new system for classifying plants based on their sexual characteristics, as well as his use of language resonating with erotic allusions, provoked intense public debate over the morality of botanical study...read more