What follows are some references for suggested readings on evolution, Darwin, and associated controversies. The books in this list are historically oriented and provide excellent introductions to the issues and personalities.
Appleman, Philip (1979, ed.) Darwin: Norton Critical Edition, 2nd ed. (NY: Norton) [Readily available in all bookstores at modest price, this volume includes extracts from some of Darwin's main writings, and commentaries by numerous critics from the 19th and 20th centuries. Its the best one volume source of text and commentary, and highly recommended as a complement to our on-line readings.]
Bowler, Peter J. (1989) Evolution: the History of an Idea, rev. ed (Berkeley : University of California Press) [The best one volume history, covers all historical figures]
Bowler, Peter J. (1990) The Invention of Progress: the Victorians and the Past (Oxford, Blackwell) [More on the context of Victorian England)
Desmond, Adrian J., and James R. Moore, James R. (1992) Darwin (NY: Warner Books) [Recent biography -- there have been a number -- and by far the best written. A dramatic account of Darwin's life, work and death]
Gould, Stephen Jay (1977) Ever since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History (New York : Norton) [Gould teaches at Harvard and writes a monthly column in Natural History -- this is the first of a number of compilations of those articles, with emphasis on Darwin's context and activities]
Greene, John C. (1959) The Death of Adam: Evolution and its Impact on Western Thought. (Ames, Iowa State University Press) [Older, but still interesting study of the cultural impact of Darwinism by an historian of science who is not a Darwinian]
Hull, David L. (1973, ed.) Darwin and his Critics: the Reception of Darwin's Theory of Evolution by the Scientific Community (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press) [Collection of articles from the period surrounding Darwin's publication of Origin of Species; many if not most were unsympathetic]
Moore, James R. (1979) The Post-Darwinian Controversies: a Study of the Protestant Struggle to Come to Terms with Darwin in Great Britain and America, 1870-1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) [Studies the reception of Darwin in Protestant denominations in US and UK; Moore is the co-author of the Darwin biography mentioned above.]
Ruse, Michael. (1982) Darwinism Defended: a Guide to the Evolution Controversies (Reading, Mass. : Addison-Wesley) [Partisan, well written survey of debates over Darwinism by a leading Darwinian philosopher]
Ruse, Michael. (1989) The Darwinian Paradigm: Essays on its History, Philosophy, and Religious Implications (London: Routledge) [More by Ruse, on topics as indicated by title]
Vorzimmer, Peter J., (1970) Charles Darwin: the Years of Controversy; The Origin of Species and its Critics, 1859-1882 (Philadelphia, Temple University Press) [Monograph on early critics and reception of Darwin, complements book by Hull]