A.R. wallace in the light of historical method

Abstract

Over the past fifty years the now well-known story of the great Victorian naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace has transformed to one very different from that familiar during his lifetime and for decades after his death in 1913. The new Wallace story is attractive and inspiring in many ways. It sells well and infuses many with a sense of purpose, but that it has changed so much remains unknown. This transformation is due largely to most writers on Wallace since the 1960s not having been trained as historians. Whereas some modern writers on him are seen as conspiracy theorists, most have simply followed what has been written or broadcast about him in recent decades. Unwittingly, however, this has culminated in a story of Wallace incompatible with historical method and contextual analysis.