People of European descent form the bulk of the population in most of the temperate zones of the world--North America, Australia and New Zealand. The military successes of European imperialism are easy to explain because in many cases they were achieved by using firearms against spears. Alfred Crosby, however, explains that the Europeans' displacement and replacement of the native peoples in the temperate zones was more a matter of biology than of military conquest. Now in a new edition with a new preface, Crosby revisits his classic work and again evaluates the ecological reasons for European expansion. Alfred W. Crosby is the author of the widely popular and ground-breaking books,The Measure of Reality (Cambridge, 1996), and America's Forgotten Pandemic (Cambridge, 1990). His books have received the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize, the Medical Writers Association Prize and been named by the Los Angeles Times as among the best books of the year. He taught at the University of Texas, Austin for over 20 years. First Edition Hb (1986): 0-521-32009-7 First Edition Pb (1987): 0-521-33613-9

生物演化是人类关心的永恒主题。古生物学家根据岩石中保存的化石记录和古环境信息，一直致力于真实地恢复这一漫长的历史画卷。
《生物演化与环境》以精美的化石为实证，以重大生物进化事件为主线，讲述地球生命38亿年以来真实发生的进化过程，以及所伴随的环境演变。其中，生物及其类群的起源、辐射、灭绝和全球气候变化、青藏高原隆升等重大变革事件是重点内容，使读者不但能够了解地球生物演化的复杂过程，也学会“讲古论今”，对现今的地球环境和人类的未来做出深层次的思考。