Radical by Nature
The Revolutionary Life of Alfred Russel Wallace
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
A major biography of the brilliant naturalist, traveler, humanitarian, and codiscoverer of natural selection
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) was perhaps the most famed naturalist of the Victorian age. His expeditions to remote Amazonia and southeast Asia were the stuff of legend. A collector of thousands of species new to science, he shared in the discovery of natural selection and founded the discipline of evolutionary biogeography.
Radical by Nature tells the story of Wallace’s epic life and achievements, from his stellar rise from humble origins to his complicated friendship with Charles Darwin and other leading scientific lights of Britain to his devotion to social causes and movements that threatened to alienate him from scientific society.
James Costa draws on letters, notebooks, and journals to provide a multifaceted account of a revolutionary life in science as well as Wallace’s family life. He shows how the self-taught Wallace doggedly pursued bold, even radical ideas that caused a seismic shift in the natural sciences, and how he also courted controversy with nonscientific pursuits such as spiritualism and socialism. Costa describes Wallace’s courageous social advocacy of women’s rights, labor reform, and other important issues. He also sheds light on Wallace’s complex relationship with Darwin, describing how Wallace graciously applauded his friend and rival, becoming one of his most ardent defenders.
Weaving a revelatory narrative with the latest scholarship, Radical by Nature paints a mesmerizing portrait of a multifaceted thinker driven by a singular passion for science, a commitment to social justice, and a lifelong sense of wonder.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Costa (Darwin's Backyard), a biology professor at Western Carolina University, gives naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) the biography he deserves in this definitive account. Drawing on newly available notebooks and writings by Wallace, Costa suggests that though his subject is best known for discovering natural selection around the same time as Darwin, he also deserves recognition for "his enduring humanity and lifelong activism for social justice." Wallace was born in Wales and moved to London as a teen, where he connected with utopian socialist Robert Owen, whose philosophy influenced Wallace's social activism later in life. In 1848, Wallace traveled to Brazil to collect insects, the first of several expeditions that led him to develop a theory of evolution, then called "transmutation," independent of Darwin. Costa highlights Wallace's preoccupation with social reform near the end of his life, noting that he advocated for women's rights and devoted his last book to "addressing the continued labor and wage problems of the day." Rich research breathes new life into the material, and Costa's attention to Wallace's passions beyond the scientific breakthroughs he's remembered for—including a fascination with astronomy—capture the range of his interests and depth of his character. Comprehensive and revelatory, this is a first-rate take on an overlooked figure in scientific history.
