Focus on The World We Live In (Life magazine) and discuss the Legacy.
The World We Live In was followed closely by The Epic of Man,  in ten parts (all signed by Barnett) beginning with the November 7, 1955 issue, and ending with the May 6, 1957, issue. It focused on  the development and history of human civilization, material that is usually covered under Physical Anthropology and  Archaeology. The article format is the same: text by Barnett illustrated by many of the same artists and photographers. Panoramic fold-outs depict the ancient tribesmen carrying out their reconstructed cultural activities. These latter were duly compared to the activities of select modern tribesmen of the times. Ironically those ways were permanently altered by the exposure. The 1950s were times of great archaeological changes also, due to the multiplication of sites and discoveries. The magazine series finally presents  the ancestors of modern Europe (Celts) and then ends abruptly, without a book edition for the time being. Notably missing from the series are the Far East and the Americas, where agriculture is now known to have been innovated independently.
After helping to produce the various editions of The World We Live In, Barnett went back to his true passion, natural History. From the June 30, 1958 to the October 19, 1959 issues, an eight-part series, The Wonders of Life on Earth traces the development of Darwin’s  Theory of evolution, portraying the places and species that influenced his thought in eye-catching color photographs. The Wonders name only appears in the first issue. In that issue also and in all subsequent issues the name is Darwin’s World of Nature.
In those years great changes were being reported by LIFE, which seemed to be obsoleting the series articles as fast as they could be written. For example, the International Geophysical Year of 1957-1958 was duly planned and was duly reported in advance by a single article in LIFE Magazine. Data collected during this international research undertaking unexpectedly proved and resurrected Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift, the foundation of today's plate tectonics in geology, yet the magazine mentions it no further. Articles on the Space Race were frequent, as well as individual scientific articles on various expeditions and wildlife. Barnett played no part in these, as he was not a regular employee of the magazine. One of its reporters in World War II, he had resigned in 1946 to pursue a career as an independent writer. He did his major writing for LIFE as an independent contractor, bringing the art staff with him.
In 1959, the handwriting appeared on the wall, so to speak, for LIFE Magazine. Circulation began to fall, due to competition with television, and fell even further in 1960. Barnett forged ahead with the book form of the Darwin series, returning to the title and concept of The Wonders of Life on Earth. Darwin seemed to him to be the true heir to classical science, investigating, like Aristotle and his students, the puzzling circumstances of nature. Unlike The World We Live in, the Wonders book’  rewrote and re-edited much of the magazine material. The first edition appeared in 1960 under the banner of Time, Inc.,  and was soon followed by others, including a special edition for young people by The Golden Press.
Time’s principal owner and co-founder, Henry Luce, moved in 1961 to restructure his holdings. LIFE Magazine was less successful, but Time Books was very successful. Luce took the advice of a new employee, Jerome (Jerry) Hardy, who had recently come to Time, Inc. from another  publishing house. In 1959 he had launched a series of books, Time Capsules, containing extracts from Time with moderate success. In consultation with the LIFE editorial staff he proposed a new division that would publish series of books on specific topics. In 1961 Time Life was created under Hardy’s management. It joined the  scientific research assets of LIFE with the book publishing assets of Time Inc.  The magazine would now decline, but Time Life would rise to new heights.
Time Life was able to restore and improve many dropped projects from the archives of LIFE. One of the first was the single book based on Epic of Man. When it appeared in 1961 it was considerably different from the magazine articles. The WorldCat citation for APA lists Barnett as the author along with Time Life. The printed version ignores Barnett, citing the Editors of LIFE as the author and Time Incorporated as the publisher. The book itself is divided into 16 parts, not 10. China, the Maya, and the Incas have been added, as well as new material on Cultural Anthropology. Many of the parts correspond to the previous LIFE articles, but the names have been changed, and the material has been rewritten. Barnett has been listed as Senior Writer, and 9 other writers have been added, but none of the parts are signed.
From 1961 on,  Time Life produced hundreds of books in dozens of series, typically about 20 books a series. The one that most closely emulates Barnett’s interest is perhaps the Life Nature Library some 24 volumes of Natural History, 1961-1965, each expanding and updating some article or part of an article of The World We Live In. For example, parallel to the article, The Age of Mammals, is the book, The Mammals. The 25th volume is a series index. Barnett, however, does not appear in any of the 25, or in any other series. He has moved on to other books. In his place Time Life has recruited other notable writers and scientists in their fields, such as Willy Ley, Francis Clark Howell, and Niko Tinbergen.
Year Aristotle evolution The Golden Press Archaeology Francis Clark Howell International Geophysical Year Time Inc. Celts The Wonders of Life on Earth Henry Luce The Epic of Man Physical Anthropology Niko Tinbergen logic Time Life Time Inc continental drift plate tectonics Cultural Anthropology Life Nature Library natural History agriculture culture Darwin gene Space Race Alfred Wegener Willy Ley Time