It is almost impossible to overstate the impact of Charles Darwin's work on Western civilization.
As much as anyone in the modern era, he changed human thought, and his influence is still felt in virtually every
aspect of our lives.
From science and concepts of society to philosophy, theology, and literature, Darwin's legacy will be discussed
and debated for centuries to come, as it has been in the past.
That legacy is the core of Darwin, edited by Philip Appleman: selections from The Origin of Species and The Descent
of Man are brought together with a wealth of materials on every phase of Darwin's influence.
Rounding out the volume is a brilliant epilogue in which Professor Appleman evaluates Darwin's legacy from the
perspective of the late twentieth century, leaving little doubt about Darwin's place in the history of Western
thought.
In this revised edition, new departures in the biological sciences are shown to be consciously post-Darwinian developments.
Included are Edward O. Wilson on sociobiology, Konrad Lorenz on ethnology, Carl Sagan on intelligence research,
Margaret Mead on the evolutionary process, Jane van Lawick-Goodall on primate research, Richard E. Leakey on paleontology,
and Nicholas Wade on recombinant DNA research.
A postscript by Professor Appleman discusses these developments and their Darwinian origins.
THE EDITOR PHILIP APPLEMAN is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Indiana University, where he was a founding
editor of Victorian Studies. He is the author of The Silent Explosion; co-editor of 1859: Entering an Age of Crisis;
editor of Thomas Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population, a Norton Critical Edition; and author of several
volumes of poetry and fiction.