Includes bibliographical references (pages 327-345) and index.

Foreword by Lisa Marie Ehrlich -- Preface -- The world of my childhood -- A passion for butterflies -- To the Arctic -- Evolution in Kansas . . . and Chicago -- Joining the only junior university -- Coevolving with botanists and butterflies -- Australia and a trip around the world -- The Population Bomb and the Carson years: science meets notoriety -- Global fieldwork -- Great affairs and some great birds -- The Crafoord prize and projects of the new millennium -- The Population Bomb revisited -- Combatting the forces of the endarkenment -- The end of life.

"Acclaimed as a public scientist and as a spokesperson on pressing environmental and equity issues, delivering his message from the classroom to 60 Minutes, Paul R. Ehrlich reflects on his life, including his love affair with his wife, Anne, his scientific research, his public advocacy, and his concern for global issues. Interweaving the range of his experiences--as an airplane pilot, a desegregationist, a proud parent--Ehrlich's insights are priceless on pressing issues such as biodiversity loss, overpopulation, depletion of resources, and deterioration of the environment. A lifelong advocate for women's reproductive rights, Ehrlich also helped to debunk scientific bias associating skin color and intelligence and warned some fifty years ago about a possible pandemic and the likely ecological consequences of a nuclear war. Life : A Journey through Science and Politics is a vital contribution to literature focused on the human predicament, including problems of governance and democracy in the twenty-first century, and insight into the ecological and evolutionary science of our day. It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding global change, our planet's wonders, and a scientific approach to the present existential threats to civilization."-- Dust jacket