A Voice in the Wilderness: A Pioneering Biologist Explains How Evolution Can Help Us Solve Our Biggest Problems

Why understanding evolution--the most reviled branch of science--can help us all, from fighting pandemics to undoing racism

Evolutionary science has long been regarded as conservative, a tool for enforcing regressive ideas, particularly about race and gender. But in A Voice in the Wilderness, evolutionary biologist Joseph L. Graves Jr.--once styled as the "Black Darwin"--argues that his field is essential to social justice. He shows, for example, why biological races do not exist. He dismantles recent work in "human biodiversity" seeking genes to explain the achievements of different ethnic groups. He decimates homophobia, sexism, and classism as well.

As a pioneering Black biologist, a leftist, and a Christian, Graves uses his personal story--his journey from a child of Jim Crow to a major researcher and leader of his peers--to rewrite his field. A Voice in the Wilderness is a powerful work of scientific anti-racism and a moving account of a trailblazing life.

ISBN-13: 9781541600713

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Basic Books

Publication Date: 09-13-2022

Pages: 384

Product Dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

Joseph L. Graves Jr. is a professor of biological sciences in the department of biology at North Carolina A&T State University. He is the first African American to receive a PhD in evolutionary biology. Graves was elected a Fellow of the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1994. He is an associate director of the Triangle Center for Evolutionary Medicine and has been recently added to the board of the National Center for Science Education, with his term beginning in April 2021. He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

List of Figures vi

List of Tables viii

Introduction 1

Part I Black Darwin

Chapter 1 The Unexpected Path 13

Chapter 2 In Your Next Life, You Should Be a Parasite 39

Chapter 3 Men Plan and God Laughs: Why Dynamical Complexity Is at the Heart of Some of Our Most "Stormy" Problems 60

Chapter 4 What Brings You Here Takes You Away 81

Chapter 5 Black Darwin 102

Chapter 6 My Great Predecessors: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants 113

Part II Why Evolution Matters

Chapter 7 America's Biggest Lie: Race and Intelligence 133

Chapter 8 A Book That Should Be Read by Everyone 150

Chapter 9 Relax: Evolution Is a Fact, but It Doesn't Tell Us Anything About the Existence of God 173

Chapter 10 Evolution, Sex, and Gender 189

Chapter 11 Homage to Santa Rosalia, or All Hail the Pandemic! 220

Chapter 12 America's Biggest Lie: Slight Return 244

Chapter 13 Evolution in Silico 274

Chapter 14 The Evolutionary Science of Social Justice 294

Conclusion: A Voice in the Wilderness 320

Notes 331

Index 363