In this volume, Martin J.S. Rudwick provides the first modern translation of Cuvier's essential writings on fossils and catastrophes. Some of these writings have never appeared before in English, and two pieces have never been published in any language. Rudwick links these translated texts together with his own insightful narrative and interpretive commentary, placing Cuvier's work in its biographical, scientific, and social context.

A major feature of this book is a new translation of Cuvier's most famous work, the "Preliminary Discourse" (1812). Frequently reprinted and translated, this essay became a key document in nineteenth-century debates about evolutionary theory and is still used as source material by many English-speaking historians. But the original English translation was poor, and its editorial slant made Cuvier appear, quite incorrectly, to champion a literal interpretation of Genesis.

Paleontologists, geologists, and historians of science, among others, will welcome these new translations and new insights into Cuvier's outstanding contributions to the earth and life sciences.