Why did some push for one man?s name to become a signifier of a whole range of human behavior? As noted professor, researcher, doctor, and author Leonard Warren shows in this long-overdue biography, Rafinesque displayed unique extravagance in his behavior, his imagination, and his lightning intelligence. Among his achievements were pre-Darwinian theories of the gradual evolution of differing plant species through minute changes in response to environmental stimuli (Darwin later acknowledged Rafinesque?s pioneering work in the field). Rafinesque also named more than 6,700 species of plants during his travels?mostly on foot?across the length and breadth of nineteenth-century America.

Rafinesque was the first professor of natural history west of the Allegheny Mountains, teaching at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Yet despite his accomplishments, he never lacked for detractors, and he rarely failed to provide his adversaries with rich fodder for criticism. His imagination sometimes dominated his analytic sense and rendered much of his work unreliable at best and nonsensical or fraudulent at worst. Also prone to petulance, jealousy, paranoia, and self-righteousness, Rafinesque alienated his colleagues and offended most in the scientific establishment who were in positions to influence his destiny. Their overwhelming discomfort with Rafinesque, and their repeated rejections of his often brilliant but unpredictable work, diminished his status and hurt him both personally and professionally during his later years. Tragically, upon his death, Raffinesque?s wealth of unpublished writings and his massive collection of plant specimens were destroyed or scattered without regard.

Leonard Warren portrays Constantine Samuel Rafinesque as a remarkably complex and ultimately tragic figure in the annals of science. Decades after his death, when the burning questions of Rafinesque?s day were better understood, a small number of scientists and natural historians began to reconsider the maverick?s life and work. While still finding much to dismiss, they also found much to admire. The scope of Rafinesque?s intelligence and the array of his accomplishments are widely acknowledged today, and with Leonard Warren?s biography, his legacy as a brilliant scientific discoverer is even more secure.