Spanning evolutionary science from its inception to its latest findings, from discoveries and data to philosophy and history, this book is the most complete, authoritative, and inviting one-volume introduction to evolutionary biology available. Clear, informative, and comprehensive in scope, Evolution opens with a series of major essays dealing with the history and philosophy of evolutionary biology, with major empirical and theoretical questions in the science, from speciation to adaptation, from paleontology to evolutionary development (evo devo), and concluding with essays on the social and political significance of evolutionary biology today.A second encyclopedic section travels the spectrum of topics in evolution with concise, informative, and accessible entries on individuals from Aristotle and Linneaus to Louis Leakey and Jean Lamarck; from T. H. Huxley and E. O. Wilson to Joseph Felsenstein and Motoo Kimura; and on subjects from altruism and amphibians to evolutionary psychology and Piltdown Man to the Scopes trial and social Darwinism. Readers will find the latest word on the history and philosophy of evolution, the nuances of the science itself, and the intricate interplay among evolutionary study, religion, philosophy, and society.Appearing at the beginning of the Darwin Year of 2009 - the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of Species - this volume is a fitting tribute to the science Darwin set in motion.Long essays in Evolution include: The History of Evolutionary Thought - Michael Ruse; The Origin of Life - Jeffrey L. Bada and Antonio Lazcano; Paleontology and the History of Life - Michael Benton; Adaptation - Joseph Travis and David Reznick; Molecular Evolution - Francisco J. Ayala; Evolution of the Genome - Brian Charlesworth and Deborah Charlesworth; The Pattern and Process of Speciation - Margaret B. Ptacek and Shala J. Hankison; Evolution and Development - Gregory Wray; Social Behavior and Sociobiology - Daniel Rubenstein; Human Evolution - Henry McHenry; Evolutionary Biology of Disease and Darwinian Medicine - Michael F. Antolin; Alternative Evolutionary Paradigms - Brian Goodwin; Philosophy of Evolutionary Thought - Kim Sterelny; Evolution and Society - Manfred D. Laubichler and Jane Maienshein; Evolution and Religion; David N. Livingstone; and, American Antievolutionism: Retrospect and Prospect - Eugenie C. Scott.