The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change is a book by Richard Lewontin about evolutionary genetics. Originally published by Columbia University Press in 1974, the book originated in a series of lectures, known as the "Jesup lectures", that Lewontin gave at Columbia University in 1969. In a blurb promoting the book, Columbia University Press claimed that it "will surely become one of the landmarks in twentieth-century science", for which they were criticized by some of the book's reviewers. James F. Crow, for example, argued that the Columbia employees who chose to describe the book in this way "should have their wrists slapped", adding, "...this is not the Origin of Species. It is just a thoughtful, readable, and very stimulating book."