Michael Flannery

_{Professor Emeritus of UAB Libraries, University of Alabama at Birmingham}

Michael A. Flannery is professor emeritus of UAB Libraries, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Much of his recent scholarship has focused on the ideas and legacy of the co-discoverer of evolution by natural selection, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913). Flannery’s books about Wallace include Nature’s Prophet: Alfred Russel Wallace and His Evolution from Natural Selection to Natural Theology (University of Alabama Press, 2018), Alfred Russel Wallace’s Theory of Intelligent Evolution: How Wallace’s World of Life Challenged Darwinism (Erasmus Press, 2008), and Alfred Russel Wallace: A Rediscovered Life (Discovery Institute Press, 2011). Flannery’s peer-reviewed journal articles include “Alfred Russel Wallace’s Intelligent Evolution and Natural Theology” (Religions, 2020). Flannery discusses the intellectual legacy of Wallace in the documentary Darwin’s Heretic. Flannery holds degrees in library science from the University of Kentucky and history from California State University, Dominguez Hills. He has written and taught extensively on the history of medicine and science.

Archives

Alfred Russel Wallace’s Bicentennial Year: A Cause for Celebration and for Sadness

_{Michael Flannery
December 1, 2023}

All the hyperbole shows the fix is in — Wallace has been made safe for scientism and Darwinian reductionism. The academy can breathe easy.

Darwin and Wallace Read Malthus Differently, and That Made a Big Difference

_{Michael Flannery
November 27, 2023}

No wonder Alfred Russel Wallace called eugenics “the meddlesome interference of an arrogant scientific priestcraft.”

Alfred Russel Wallace: A Life in Science, Rediscovered

_{Michael Flannery
November 25, 2023}

Despite the notoriety of Wallace in his own day, he remains a comparatively obscure figure in the history of biology.

The Outsider: Alfred Russel Wallace’s Reputation in the Darwinian Era

_{Michael Flannery
November 24, 2023}

Was Alfred Wallace a “crazy” crank? Was he an undisciplined “dilettante” bemused by every fringe belief he encountered?

Alfred Russel Wallace’s Greatest Journey

_{Michael Flannery
November 22, 2023}

Alfred Russel Wallace took a journey Darwin could not follow. He went from natural selection to natural theology.

Intelligent Design and Alfred Russel Wallace’s Intelligent Evolution — Different Yet the Same

_{Michael Flannery
November 21, 2023}

If any modern ID proponent fits the Wallacean model it is biologist Michael Behe.

Wallace’s Frenemies: A Lesson from Phillip Johnson

_{Michael Flannery
October 16, 2023}

We can add Andrew Berry to the list of those quick to praise Alfred Wallace on certain matters but equally quick to condemn him on others.

A “Prepared Mind” for Alfred Russel Wallace

_{Michael Flannery
October 7, 2023}

Although Wallace receded into the deep recesses of my memory, I had what Pasteur called “the prepared mind.”

Correcting a Cartoon Version of Alfred Russel Wallace

_{Michael Flannery
October 2, 2023}

Was Darwin a Nazi? Of course not. But did his ideas form a causal nexus via Galton to ideas that would be integrated into Nazi policy? Yes.

How I “Discovered” Alfred Russel Wallace

_{Michael Flannery
September 26, 2023}

I certainly wouldn’t have recognized his full significance if I had not already been introduced to ID by reading Johnson, Behe, and Dembski.

For Alfred Russel Wallace, Natural Selection Opened the Door to Teleology

_{Michael Flannery
September 12, 2023}

Charles Darwin always recognized to some extent the problem of removing all vestiges of intelligent causation from evolutionary processes.

Remembering Paul Johnson’s Assessment of Darwin

_{Michael Flannery
January 12, 2023}

The reviewers that insist this work is “ludicrous,” a “smear,” or a “hatchet job” are wrong; it is none of these.

Sunday with the Devil’s Acolyte — Thomas Henry Huxley

_{Michael Flannery
September 14, 2021}

Although the designation of Huxley as Darwin’s “bulldog” is well known, acolyte is a more appropriate term and here’s why.

Devil’s Chaplain: Evolution as a “Theological Research Program”

_{Michael Flannery
September 10, 2021}

This stands the standard historiography and received wisdom concerning the development of modern evolutionary theory on its head.

Richard Owen and Charles Darwin on Race: A Study in Contrasts

_{Michael Flannery
July 27, 2021}

Darwin was unquestionably a racist, arguing that civilization would advance even at the cost of inevitable racial extermination.

Charles Darwin: Racist Spokesman for Anglo-Male Superiority?

_{Michael Flannery
July 14, 2021}

The University of Sheffield’s teaching and research handbook has declared Charles Darwin a “racist.”

Congratulations to Science Magazine for an Honest Portrayal of Darwin’s Descent of Man

_{Michael Flannery
July 13, 2021}

On the book’s 150th anniversary, a prestigious journal is catching up with Darwin critics.

Distancing Darwin from Racism Is a Fool’s Errand

_{Michael Flannery
July 11, 2021}

“Scholars have wasted their time trying to exonerate Darwin of responsibility for Social Darwinism, for he was a Social Darwinist.”

Congratulations to Science Magazine for an Honest Portrayal of Darwin’s Descent of Man

_{Michael Flannery
May 24, 2021}

On the book's 150th anniversary, a prestigious journal is catching up with Darwin critics.

Charles Darwin: Racist Spokesman for Anglo-Male Superiority?

_{Michael Flannery
May 13, 2021}

The University of Sheffield’s teaching and research handbook has declared Charles Darwin a “racist.”