Before Darwin, Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck created the first theory of evolution, an idea so powerful it promised to become the great unifying force of science. Instead, for 200 years, Lamarck's grand idea polarised the scientific establishment and became a byword for discredited beliefs - until, on the eve of his bicentenary, science finally caught up and proved him right. With a narrative as lively as fiction, this is the true story of Lamarck and his hard-won legacy. It is the story of Lamarck's own travails in treacherous times and of the Australian scientist Ted Steele who, almost two centuries later, would decode the evidence and put Lamarck back on the world stage.