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24 October 2013: Centenary of the death of Alfred Russel Wallace - a thinker for our own times?
Thursday 7 November marks 100 years since the death of Alfred Russel Wallace. We’ve all heard of the late, great Charles Darwin but how many of us have heard of Russel Wallace?
Wallace was a British, self-taught biologist from a far humbler background who came up with the theory of evolution by natural selection independently of Darwin, but at around the same time. The two were contemporaries and opinion is divided as to whether the credit for the evolutionary theory was correctly shared. During his lifetime, Wallace had recognition. However, since his death his fame has been greatly overshadowed by Darwin’s.
Now, award-winning author and Professor of Sociology at the University of Essex, Ted Benton, has written Alfred Russel Wallace – A Thinker For Our Own Times? The book is a definitive account of Wallace’s life and work, together with a unique assessment of his work in the light of current thinking.
As a student and admirer of Wallace for many years, Professor Benton believes Wallace played a crucial part alongside Darwin in the great scientific revolution. But this book goes further still. It shows that Wallace was the founder of the science of biogeography, now of immense importance to the conservation of biodiversity on a global scale. It also shows he was a fearlessly critical public intellectual, campaigning for land nationalisation, environmental conservation, the rights of colonised peoples and for the emancipation of women.
Of Wallace, Professor Benton says, “Wallace shares, or should share, with Darwin the credit for one of the great revolutions in our understanding of the natural world and our place in it. But even more than that, his bold and radical thinking about poverty, injustice and environmental degradation in his own times carry a powerful message for today."
The book includes two biographical chapters, describing Wallace’s early life, his two major tropical adventures and subsequent literary, scientific, political and home life up to his death at the age of 90. There are also analytical chapters on his discovery of natural selection, his disputes with Darwin on sexual selection and human evolution, his critique of the social and economic injustices of 19th century capitalism and his vision of an alternative just and environmentally sustainable way of living.
Professor Ted Benton is author and editor of many books on social philosophy, environmental sociology and natural history. His two award-winning contributions to the New Naturalist series have been widely acclaimed. He is also a well known natural history photographer.
For more information please contact Catherine McDonald, Faculty Communications Officer, Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Essex.