The book by the famous evolutionary biologist, zoologist and ecologist N. N. Vorontsov is a revised and expanded course on the theory of evolution, which the author reads at the Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Physics, Moscow State University. The book traces in detail the development of the evolutionary idea that arose thousands of years before Darwin and belonging to the few general scientific fundamental ideas that determined the thinking of young people in the 19th and 20th centuries. All stages of the emergence and formation of ideas about evolution, starting with primitive society, are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the origins, development and perception of Darwinism, in particular in Russia, the influence of Darwinism on all natural sciences. The last chapters show how today's discoveries in the field of molecular biology, genetics and many other disciplines prepare the way for a new synthesis in the history of evolutionism. The book is rich a mass of interesting and instructive historical details, usually little known, and contains a large number of illustrations, both the author’s and those taken from hard-to-find publications. The book is intended for a wide reader, not only a biologist, but anyone interested in modern science and its history.