This biography provides an understanding of William Bateson as well as a reconciliation of diverging views (e.g. the hierarchical thinking of Gould and the genocentrism of George Williams and Richard Dawkins). Evolutionists may thus, at long last, present a unified front to their creationist opponents. The pressing need for this text is apparent from the high percentages reported not to believe in evolution and the growth of the so-called "intelligent design" movement.

The pressing need for this text is apparent from the high percentages reported not to believe in evolution and the growth of the so-called "intelligent design" movementSo far biohistorians have failed to come up with a comprehensive biography of William Bateson. In 1986 William Provine concluded: "Evolutionary biology in the period 1859-1925 is extraordinary complex". To understand this period we must understand Bateson
Many books of this nature are written by historians of science who are often able to provide an attractive narrative, but are less able to untangle the more controversial aspects of the science. The present book is written by two "card carrying" bioscientists who, relatively late in their careers, turned to biohistory while remaining at the "cutting edge" of their disciplines. For several decades the Bateson papers languished in the attic of an outhouse at Hancock in New Hampshire, until "repatriated" by Alan Cock in 1975 with the help of Stephen Jay Gould

Abbreviations.- Prologue.- Part I. Genesis of a Geneticist.- A Cambridge Childhood (1861-1882).- From Virginia to the Aral Sea (1883-1889).-Galton.- Variation (1890-1894).- Romanes.- Reorientation and Controversy (1895-1899).- What Life May Be.- Part II. Mendelism.- Rediscovery (1900-1901).- Mendel's Bulldog (1902-1906).- Bateson's Bulldog.- 11 On Course (1907-1908).- Darwin Centenary (1909).- Chromosomes.- Part III. The Innes Years.- Passages (1910-1914).- Eugenics.- War (1915-1919).- My Respectful Homage (1920-1922).- Limits Undetermined (1923-1926).- Part IV. Politics.- Butler.- Pilgrimages.- Kammerer.- Science and Chauvinism.- Degrees for Women.- Part V. Eclipse.- Bashing.- Epilogue.- Appendix.- Publications of William Bateson.- References and Notes.- Acknowledgements.- Index.