Since the early 2000s there has been an increasing interest in Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-discoverer of the theory of natural selection with Charles Darwin. In 2013 this interest multiplied tenfold to mark the centenary of his death. He was, as Michael Shermer's preface to this work notes, ‘one of the most interesting minds … encountered anywhere anytime’ (p. vii). Not satisfied with co-discovering one of the most powerful ideas in science, he also pioneered what is now known as biogeography and was one of the most fascinating – and controversial – sociopolitical figures of his age. As a result, by the time of his death he was one of the most famous men in the world and certainly one of the most interesting ones.
Growing interest in Wallace has resulted in a profusion of books, articles and further resources (online and otherwise). The present volume is yet another addition to this burgeoning list. As the title explains, this work tackles Wallace's North American lecture tour in 1886–1887. This ten-month tour ‘is not a well-known chapter in his life’, argues Charles Smith's introduction, ‘but it is an interesting one’ (p. 7). As Smith notes, Wallace saw it as a chance to engage with the vibrant American spiritualist community, do some Darwinian proselytizing, and undertake possibly his last opportunity for concerted scientific fieldwork.
Certainly, although not a well-known chapter, it is a far from unknown one. His lecture tour finds its way – in varying degrees of detail – into almost every recent biography on Wallace. However, the most concerted effort to study Wallace's tour has come from Martin Fichman (chiefly surrounding Wallace's role in the development of a transatlantic evolutionary theism). Such coverage is not surprising considering that Wallace himself considered it an important enough event to dedicate ninety-two pages of his autobiography, My Life (1905), exclusively to this ten months across the Atlantic.
Nonetheless, most accounts of his time in North America have relied heavily upon his autobiographical account. This is not unsurprising. As becomes clear from the outset, Wallace's on-the-road diary is often fairly sparse with regard to details – as Smith notes, it is not a ‘literary journal’ (p. 9). Similarly, where detail is provided, Wallace invariably reproduced those passages almost verbatim in My Life.
However, as is often recognized, autobiographical accounts are, as Kitson Clark's The Critical Historian (1967) explains, the ‘least convincing of all personal records’. Consequently, this book attempts to bring Wallace's on-the-road diary – held at the Linnean Society of London – back to the fore in the discussion of his American lecture tour, by providing a full transcript of it.
The successes are innumerable. The transcription is, in itself, an impressive piece of scholarship. It offers a significant amount of material for historians interested in botany, geology, anthropology, museum studies, spiritualism, social history and beyond.
It is, however, far from simply a transcribed primary source. Within the diary itself the editors smoothly incorporate additional information provided in My Life. Similarly, they provide newspaper extracts regarding his talks and visits. These are particularly enlightening and useful for those studying the popular reception of science and scientists in America. Furthermore, the editors offer a number of aids as appendices to help navigate the diary: an effective and efficient series of mini-biographies for most of the individuals mentioned, places Wallace visited and papers he delivered, and a botanical list of the species mentioned. Additionally, they offer a number of his publications written during (or derived from) his time in America. This provides scholars with the possibility of a more holistic understanding of Wallace's American tour which scholarship to date has not quite offered.
There is little not to admire in this short 250-page book. However, some readers may notice some missed opportunities. The introduction offers an effective account of the preamble to the tour. However, a brief overview of the wider lecture tour phenomenon would have been useful to situate Wallace's own. It is relevant that other scientific superstars – such as Thomas Henry Huxley and John Tyndall – embarked on their own tours. As with Wallace, they looked to satisfy their curiosity as well as their bank managers (Tyndall made $13,000 from his four-month tour in 1872–1873). Such a context also brings to relief the striking elements of Wallace's tour: the prominence of spiritualist investigation, scientific fieldwork (geology and botany in particular) and other research (anthropology, museum studies and other sociopolitical subjects).
There is also a sense of other primary source material being underused. The included letter segments often greatly supplement understanding of the vaguer entries. But much more exists. Wallace's letters to immediate friends and family would be particularly valuable additions to the narrative and help flesh out more bare-bones entries. Indeed, even the fascinating letter to Meldola provided in Shermer's preface does not appear in the text itself despite Wallace referring to it directly (see pp. viii, 121). Similarly, the Natural History Museums hold some further notes from Wallace's tour which appear not to have been consulted. The additional drawings there would have, by themselves, been valuable additions to this well-illustrated volume.
These are, however, minor weaknesses. The editors’ additions turn a valuable primary source into an invaluable companion for those interested in the reception of Darwinism in America, details of transatlantic science in the ninteenth century and more besides. Furthermore, as Shermer highlights, those interested in American social history will discover innumerable gems coming from Wallace's critical and perceptive eye being cast on large sections of American society and culture.
This book will undoubtedly prove an enduring piece of scholarship amongst Wallace historians, offering the chance to direct focus away from Wallace's My Life account. However, it is far from being a book just for Wallace scholars. Wallace's diverse interests produce a work with a broad scope of content. Furthermore, its accessibility, thanks to the additions by the editors, means that this should earn its way onto a number of institutional and individual bookshelves and be read by a number of social, political and cultural historians as well as historians of science.
