The Invention of the Modern Dog

Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens and P. T. Barnum walk into a pub … a classic comic set-up that can only lead to one punch line: The Invention of the Modern Dog. This chronicle—by science historians Michael Worboys and Neil Pemberton and historian Julie-Marie Strange—charts the confluence of biology, class, and popular entertainment that resulted in an unprecedented burst of nineteenth-century canine breeding. That tumult, they argue, stares out at us today from the eyes of our dogs.—NatureReveals how the Victorians invented the modern way of ordering and breeding man’s best friend.—The Sunday PostIn The Invention of the Modern Dog, the authors show how our modern attitudes to breeds have been shaped by Victorian cultural ideals. The book makes for a fascinating read for anyone interested in the origins of today’s dog breeds.—Pets MagazineWorboys, Strange and Pemberton have produced a magnificent book … a wonderfully lively text that traces the sources of our own obsession with doggy design and offers a gentle warning about what is at stake when we fiddle too far.—The GuardianHighly entertaining and plentifully illustrated.—Times Literary Supplement

Michael Worboys is an emeritus professor in the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of Manchester. He is the coauthor of Rabies in Britain: Dogs, Disease and Culture, 1830–2000. Julie-Marie Strange is a professor of British history at Durham University. She is the author of Death, Grief and Poverty in Britain, 1870–1914. Neil Pemberton is a Senior Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow in the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of Manchester. He is the coauthor of Murder and the Making of English CSI.