Alfred Rusell Wallace's Letters

Wallace was overshadowed by Charles Darwin. Many might find this just, for Darwin was indeed a great man even though his nagging wife and timidity nearly cost him his eminent position among the pantheon of scientific luminaries. Darwin, a graduate of Cambridge, had wealth, and influential friends who pushed him to finally publish after a dormant decade studying barnacles. Wallace was largely self-taught and came from a modest middle-class background. Wallace's contributions to evolutionary biology were lasting and tremendously influential. Even though haunted by financial problems his entire life Wallace was the true "bulldog" for evolution and natural selection. Wallace was politically a socialist which no doubt alienated many of the wealthy friends of Darwin. His opposition to eugenics a popularly held belief in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe and America demonstrated one the most common themes of his life- a fearless belief in social justice.

                                                             
                                                            Wallace's Letters Online