The Heretic in Darwin's Court: The Life of Alfred Russel Wallace (Paperback)

~ (Author) "THE ANTHROPOLOGIST LOREN EISELEY, popularizer of the history of evolutionary thought, famously referred to the nineteenth century as "Darwin's Century..." (more)
Key Phrases: Malay Archipelago, Rio Negro, New Guinea (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1858, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), a self-educated British naturalist collecting specimens in the Malay Archipelago, sent a brief manuscript to Charles Darwin outlining the concept of natural selection and explaining its important role in the creation of new species. Darwin, who had been working on this topic for 20 years but had not yet published anything, feared that Wallace's paper would take precedence over all of his own earlier work. In fact, Darwin's scientific allies arranged for a joint presentation of his ideas alongside Wallace's to the Linnean Society of London while Darwin rushed to complete On the Origin of Species. Physician and amateur historian Slotten does a very good job of contextualizing this critical moment in the history of biology within the life and times of Wallace. He demonstrates that Wallace was a brilliant, complex man and argues persuasively that Wallace never resented Darwin's receiving much more credit for the theory of natural selection than he did. Wallace, perhaps more than Darwin, took on all comers and was an articulate and forceful spokesman for natural selection. But, as Slotten shows, he was very much interested in other causes as well. As a socialist, he was an ardent proponent of social justice, working for land reform (he was himself from the lower classes). He believed in spiritualism, was against smallpox vaccination and, to the chagrin of many scientists, claimed that human intelligence was divinely inspired. Slotten's enjoyable exposition provides insight into the scientific process and the role of class structure in Victorian England. Illus., maps.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* As a scientist, Charles Darwin will probably always tower above the man with whom he shared the honor of having discovered natural selection. But three outstanding biographies in three years evince a growing interest in Alfred Russel Wallace. Like Fichman's An Elusive Victorian (2004) and Raby's Alfred Russel Wallace (2001), Slotten's new life study illuminates an unpredictable genius who cut a wide swath in Victorian culture. Like his predecessors, Slotten examines closely the improbable chain of events that brought Darwin and Wallace to the same epoch-making discovery and probes the reasons that Darwin ascended to the scientific pantheon while Wallace descended into historians' footnotes. But Slotten surpasses earlier biographers in detailing the complex personal relationship between the two biologists, chronicling the curious way Wallace humbly deferred to Darwin in controversies over priority yet still vexed him over questions about the evolutionary process. Slotten's own jungle travels also enable him to chronicle vividly Wallace's labors as a field naturalist, labors that put him deep in dangerous wilderness long after Darwin had withdrawn to the comforts of the study. Even in Wallace's much-ridiculed forays into spiritualism, Slotten discerns the fearless curiosity of an explorer. Wallace, a man who defied even death in his investigation of earth's most peculiar species, is no longer a footnote. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press; paperback edition (April 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231130112
• ISBN-13: 978-0231130110
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #861,856 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Wallace, August 4, 2004

By	C. H Smith (Bowling Green, Kentucky United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Heretic in Darwin's Court: The Life of Alfred Russel Wallace (Hardcover)

Ross Slotten's new biography of Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) continues where others have left off. There has now been at least one full-length biographical study of Wallace published each year since 2000, plus several anthologies and other works. Clearly, Wallace is starting to "get his due." But there is yet much to do, and this latest biography demonstrates this point well.

Slotten is an amateur investigator, and this work was obviously a labor of love. But he's put a good deal of effort into his study, along the way uncovering new archival sources that shed further light on Wallace's many contacts over his long life. So, the reader will find further new things here, even if he or she has already digested the recent excellent studies by Peter Raby, Michael Shermer, and Martin Fichman. Slotten writes well, provides enough historical context to keep things interesting, and only occasionally is factually inaccurate (for example, in some of the chronology he offers for the period of Wallace's adoption of spiritualism, circa 1865-1866).

On the other hand, his efforts sometimes cross over into ill-advised opinion and elaboration. One thing he plays a bit too much on is Wallace's status as an outsider to the intellectual community of his time: the "poor Wallace" line (in relation to his dealings with Darwin, and everyone else). Actually, though Wallace was in fact an outsider, the real story of his life is how little such matters seemed to affect his thought process: when it came to the world of ideas, he was just about as fearless a thinker as we have had. Slotten does a rather poor job of exposing this side--the really important one--of Wallace, and to this extent does just about nothing to expand our knowledge of his world view past the status quo.

But for someone as unusual as Wallace, one cannot ask for everything at once. We should be happy for a well-written, well-researched, and admirably detailed accounting of a very interesting man's life, and continue to hope that future treatments will reach more and more into just what made Wallace tic, and how we in our time can make use of that information.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Indiana Jones" of Evolution, July 2, 2004

By	Curiouser & Curiouser - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heretic in Darwin's Court: The Life of Alfred Russel Wallace (Hardcover)

This book was recommended by a friend. It's a great read, and would make a great action movie. I dimly remembered someone simultaneously developing a theory of evolution with Darwin. After reading this book, I don't know why Wallace isn't more famous than Darwin. He was certainly more interesting. He was self-made, from London's lower classes; trecked around the jungles of South America and the Pacific islands; was involved in a shipwreck; was recognized by England's most prestigious scientific societies; got involved in unpopular social causes and ended up going to seances and visiting mediums. This cost him him his hard-won scientific standing in Victorian London, but that didn't seem to phase him; he had moved on intellectually. He is a fascinating and colorful character. The author doesn't try to explain away the contradictions, but lets Wallace emerge as what he is -- a complexs and enigmatic, and ultimately very sympathetic figure. The book is also a fascinating study of Victorian England. It also contains a very lucid discussion of the thought process that led to the theory of evolution, which becomes almost a sub-plot, with its own heros and villains. This author writes in a clear, lucid prose, and lets his opinion occasionally show through, but generally plays it straight. The scholarship is impressive, but you aren't overwhelmed by it. The author keeps a critical distance from the character, so the portrayal feels ultimately balanced. If you are looking for a good biography, this is a book you should relish.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A. R. Wallace as he really was., January 9, 2007

By	William A. Weber (Boulder, CO, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Heretic in Darwin's Court: The Life of Alfred Russel Wallace (Hardcover)

This is by far the best of several recent biographies of Wallace. As a biographer myself, it is hard for me to grasp how Dr. Totten, as a physician, ever found the time to do the meticulous research for this book. While it contains a wealth of end notes, the narrative does not make difficult reading. The author does not insert his own biases in his treatment of the portion of the book that deals in Wallace's spiritualiam.