The Descent of Man

by Charles Darwin

Printed  in the United States of America - 1875

The Origin of Species was Darwin's ground breaking book in which he published his theory of evolution and natural selection, however it was in The Descent of Man that Darwin specifically discussed the evolution of man from a "lower" animal ancestor. It was in The Descent of Man that Darwin made the earth shaking statement: "He who is not content to look, like a savage, at the phenomena of nature as disconnected, cannot any longer believe that man is the work of a separate act of creation."

The book presented below is the revised second edition of The Descent of Man, which was first published in 1871. The second edition contains pictures, additions and revisions to the first addition. In this book Darwin focuses on the role of sexual selection in the process of evolution and speciation and the role of sexual selection in relation to the development of human society. 

The Descent of Man