History of evolutionary thought theory were particularly controversial, spawning the neutralist-selectionist debate over the relative importance of mutation, drift and selection, which continued into the 1980s without a clear resolution. In the mid-1960s, George C. Williams strongly critiqued explanations of adaptations worded in terms of "survival of the species" (group selection arguments). Such explanations were largely replaced by a gene-centered view of evolution, epitomized by the kin selection arguments of W. D. Hamilton, George R. Price and John Maynard Smith. This viewpoint would be summarized and popularized in the influential 1976 book "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins. Models of the period seemed to
The Evolution of Beauty to encourage readers to accept his arguments on political rather than scientific grounds. Gail Patricelli, Eileen Hebets, and Tamra Mendelson, while describing the book as containing "engaging descriptions of the natural world", criticize Prum's reasoning, description of modern sexual selection research, and conclusions. The Evolution of Beauty The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World—and Us is a 2017 book by the ornithologist and evolutionary biologist Richard O. Prum about the power of aesthetic mate choice arguing it to be an important independent agent in evolution. Prum indicates that while Charles Darwin made