But in 1986 Goodall gave up fieldwork for a higher, more pressing calling: rescuing chimpanzees from inhumane conditions in captivity and preserving the species from extinction. Jane Goodall: 40 Years at Gombe is a pictorial tribute to her life, her studies of the chimpanzees and her unflagging efforts to motivate human beings on their behalf.

"Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference." Goodall began her research by giving the chimpanzees names, by observing them as non-human individuals. Her activism is directed toward the human individuals: scientists who use apes in research, Africans who live near wild apes, children in Africa and in the industrialised world who can learn to value other creatures for themselves. Goodall says of this last project that "I think Roots & Shoots is probably the reason I came into the world. Yet I couldn't have done it without all those years with the chimpanzees and an understanding that led to a blurring of the line between 'man' and 'beasts.'" --Mary Ellen Curtin,Amazon.com