With his theory of evolution by natural selection, Darwin outlined a natural process for the ascent of humankind and linked all creation. After returning from his voyage on the ¿Beagle,¿ Darwin was not interested in upsetting his upper-crust British social milieu of creationists; he kept his theory a secret for over 20 years. During that time, he filled several notebooks, sketching out natural selection with the help of his finds in South America and on the Galapagos Islands. Here, Niles Eldredge scours these notes for clues to that pivotal moment when Darwin stopped being an inquisitive creationist and became an evolutionist. Eldredge reveals the intellectual and intuitive leaps taken by the man who spawned the theory of evolution. Full-color illustrations.