This book is a select collection of seminal writings by Michael Soulé over a thirty-year time-span from 1980 through the present day. Intended for a new generation of students, it offers a fresh presentation of goals of conservation biology, and inspiration and guidance for the global biodiversity crises facing us today. Readers will come away with an understanding of the science, passion, idealism, and sense of urgency that drove early founders of conservation biology like Michael Soulé.