MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 04383cam a22003734a 4500
001 4819767
005 20221103042706.0
008 031106t20042004kyua b s001 0beng
010 $a 2003024567
020 $a081312316X (alk. paper)
035 $a(OCoLC)ocm53376003
035 $a(NNC)4819767
035 $a4819767
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dCLU$dOrLoB-B
042 $apcc
043 $an-us---
050 00 $aQH31.R13$bW37 2004
082 00 $a508/.092$aB$222
100 1 $aWarren, Leonard,$d1924-$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n83156602
245 10 $aConstantine Samuel Rafinesque :$ba voice in the American wilderness /$cLeonard Warren.
260 $aLexington, Ky. :$bUniversity Press of Kentucky,$c[2004], ©2004.
300 $axiv, 252 pages :$billustrations ;$c24 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [231]-240) and index.
505 00 $gCh. 1.$tIn the beginning -- $gCh. 2.$tThe newcomer in botanical paradise, 1802-1805 -- $gCh. 3.$tSicily, 1805-1815 -- $gCh. 4.$tAmerican science and natural history in Rafinesque's time -- $gCh. 5.$tReturn to America, 1815-1818 -- $gCh. 6.$tGoing West, 1818 -- $gCh. 7.$tKentucky, 1819-1826 -- $gCh. 8.$tThe world of finance and banking -- $gCh. 9.$tTravels and farewell to Lexington -- $gCh. 10.$tThe medicine man -- $gCh. 11.$tHistory, archaeology, and linguistics -- $gCh. 12.$tWalam Olum -- $gCh. 13.$tBotany and zoology -- $gCh. 14.$tLast years in Philadelphia -- $gCh. 15.$tLast days.
520 1 $a"Half a century after the death of Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1840, a small number of researchers, biographers, and historians of natural science suggested that the famed botanist's last name should become the newest adjective in the English lexicon. Had they succeeded, "rafinesque" would have forever been a literary tool to describe those poor souls, occasionally reaching but always aspiring to lofty heights, who brought chronic calamity and defeat upon themselves through grandiose, narcissistic visions of their own importance." "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, Rafinesque's wealth of unpublished writings and his massive collection of plant specimens were destroyed or scattered without regard."--BOOK JACKET.
600 10 $aRafinesque, C. S.$q(Constantine Samuel),$d1783-1840.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79135521
650 0 $aNaturalists$zUnited States$vBiography.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008108331
650 12 $aNatural History.$0https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D019021
651 2 $aUnited States.$0https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D014481
655 7 $aBiography.$2mesh$0https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D019215
856 41 $3Table of contents$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0411/2003024567.html
852 00 $boff,sci$hQH31.R13$iW37 2004