Here is the summation of a lifetime of research & speculation on nearly every aspect of human development by one of the world's greatest scientists. Professor Darlington's book is a revolutionary advancement of the work begun by Darwin's "The Descent of Man", and like that work, it will stand as a landmark in the history of modern thought. Darlington sees history as a continuation of the Darwinian process - an endless interplay of genetics and environment. Within this structure he ranges, with the clarity, wit and grace of a master stylist, over all of human history using recent advances in genetics as well as anthropology, archeology and sociology to achieve a radical new perspective. He shows how human heredity has shaped not only man's physical evolution but the development of his personal and social life. In Darlington's brilliant vision, breeding patterns have determined religion, war, migration, industry, kingship, the rise and fall of empires, artistic achievement, and all the other important features of social history. "The Evolution of Man and Society" is full of grave lessons, profound insights, luminous summations, startling speculations on the critical issues in human history: the conflict between materialism and idealism in American culture, the genetic basis of racial conflict, the anthropology of conquest, the evolution of aristocracy, the social function of religion, the dawn of man, the genesis of political revolution. In addition, Darlington's analysis yields literally thousands of fascinating details. The Evolution of Man and Society is an inexhaustible store of knowledge and insight, to be reread and pondered - and perhaps to change the course of modern thought. Professor C. D. Darlington is a Fellow of the Royal Society, Sherardian Professor of Botany and Regius Professor of Biology at the University of Oxford, Director of the Innes Horticultural Institution and Keeper of the botanic Gardens of the University of Oxford.