On the Origin of Species

In the Origin of Species (1859) Darwin challenged many of the most deeply held
beliefs of the Western world, dislodging man from his central position in creation
and calling into question the role of the Creator. This revised edition presents the text
in light of the most recent scholarship. In her introduction, Gillian Beer considers
in detail the first reactions to the work and Darwin's responses and appraises the
controversy in the light of the recent revival of Creationism and Intelligent Design.

Dame Gillian Beer is Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Literature. Her Darwin's Plots (1983; second edition 2000) was followed by Open Fields: Science in Cultural Encounter (1996). More recently she has been working on Carroll's Alice books in the context of nineteenth-century intellectual controversies and a new collection of her essays on literature and science is scheduled for 2008.