On topics ranging from intelligent design and climate change to the politics of gender and race, the evolutionary writings of Charles Darwin occupy a pivotal position in contemporary public debate. This volume brings together the key chapters of his most important and accessible books, including the Journal of Researches on the Beagle voyage (1845), the Origin of Species (1859), and the Descent of Man (1871), along with the full text of his delightful autobiography. They are accompanied by generous selections of responses from Darwin's nineteenth-century readers from across the world. More than anything, they give a keen sense of the controversial nature of Darwin's ideas, and his position within Victorian debates about man's place in nature.

The wide-ranging Introduction by James A. Secord, Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project, explores the global impact and origins of Darwin's work and the reasons for its unparalleled significance today. To increase its usefulness for readers coming to Darwin for the first time, the selection also includes a map of the Beagle voyage, a detailed chronology of Darwin's life, and a biographical appendix identifying every individual mentioned in the text.

• This unique anthology brings together a collection of Darwin's most accessible and significant writings to give the best fully rounded picture of his ideas in a single volume.
• Features the key chapters from Darwin's most important books: the Journal of Researches, On the Origin of Species; The Descent of Man; and the complete text of his autobiography.
• Includes extracts from Darwin's contemporary readers from across the world to give a sense of the controversial nature of his ideas, a sense of the issues they raised, and the extraordinary range of responses across the political, religious, and scientific spectrum.
• Authoritative introduction placing Darwin in both his local and global context by distinguished writer James A. Secord.
• Includes a map of the Beagle voyage, a biographical appendix identifying every individual mentioned in the texts, illustrations from the Journal of Researches, and an index.
• Includes the full, authoritative text of Darwin's fascinating Recollections (his autobiography), edited to a consistent standard for the first time.

James A. Secord is the author of many books including Controversy in Victorian Geology: The Cambrian-Silurian Dispute (Princeton, 1986) and Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of 'Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation' (Chicago, 2000), winner of the 2002 Pfizer Prize of the History of Science Society and the 2002 award for the best book in history from the Association of American Publishers' Professional/Scholarly Publishing Division. He has edited Lyell's Principles of Geology for Penguin.