Modern synthesis (20th century) a gene-centred view of evolution following Hamilton's concepts, disputing the idea of evolutionary progress, and attacking the then widespread theory of group selection. Williams argued that natural selection worked by changing the frequency of alleles, and could not work at the level of groups. Gene-centred evolution was popularised by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book "The Selfish Gene" and developed in his more technical writings. In 1975, E. O. Wilson published his controversial book "", the subtitle alluding to the modern synthesis as he attempted to bring the study of animal society into the evolutionary fold. This appeared radically new,
The Evolution of Beauty that was adapted from "The Evolution of Beauty", stating that it is "both erroneous and confusing, for it misrepresents sexual selection, natural selection, and modern evolutionary theory." He later described the book as a "mixed bag" but stated that the bad parts outweighed the good, and stated that Prum's arguments were "tendentious". Evolutionary biologists Gerald Borgia and Gregory Ball state that Prum misrepresents opposition of scientists to the model of runaway selection and that he fails to make a case for its ubiquity. Further, they claim Prum inappropriately injects politics into biology, conflating eugenics and genocide with female mate choice