A good place to start would be The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester. It's not directly about evolution as such, but explains what the cutting edge, state-of-the art of Victorian science was just before Darwin published his work. It's also just a great book, and well worth reading for its own sake.

IMHO one of the best books about evolution is Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould. It was written in the 1990s so one or two specific details are a little bit out of date (especially about the Punctuated Equilibrium version of evolution) but it gives a wide overview of the whole picture. And there are lots and lots of examples of how scientists worked out exactly where different fossils fit into the tree of life.

If you really feel you have to read a Richard Dawkins, make it The Blind Watchmaker, one of his very early books when he was still writing proper science and not just indulging in gratuitous religion bashing.

And after Dawkins, you'll definitely need something from the religious evolutionists' perspective. Although its not a book, this webpage is a history of the split between creationism and religious evolutionism. (Warning: it's a very, very long page, and just when you think you've reached the end, you realise you've just started a new section.)

Hope those are useful.

"The Bible says you have to be Christian, so all non-Christians must be converted at sword-point" was usually how it went. See: the Crusades, the Reconquista. There were also a whooole lot of wars justified by "you're the wrong sort of Christian"; the Spanish Armada, where Catholic Spain attacked newly-Protestant England, springs to mind.

Note: justified by. Not 'inspired by'. Most wars are started by someone wanting something the other side has. But it's amazing the number of ways they can convince you they should have it because because because.

hS