One of the central aspects in the ecology and evolution of organisms' life histories is how long they live. The recent and ongoing explosioin of interest and advances in this field means that a comprehensive overview is now timely. This book provides an up to date synthesis of this work as well as a fresh look at the current status of research within the field. It is an advanced textbook suitable for graduate level students as well as professional researchers in the fields of ecology, evolutionary biology, and genetics, and will also attract significant interest from researchers in the medical sciences and anthropology.