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.

Awesome story awesome science

Critical thinking is at the heart of solving many of the toughest issues humanity takes. I love seeing this applied through the lens of evolutionary biology.

an urged voice

You have science communication books and you have autobiographies. Graves Jr. puts both together masterfully. On the one hand he shows how evolution depends on diversity, including what is usually called race, to succeed. Not homogenisation of a species into a preferred ethnicity, diversity. On the other hand he tells his beautiful personal story of struggle stepping up against structural racism and even personal disbelief for a more just scientific entrepreneurship and society as a whole. We urgently need more people like Joseph L. Graves Jr. Thanks to him, we will probably have them.