The naturalist Edward O. Wilson, one of the most influential thinkers of our time, has found himself at the center of fiery controversies related to the evolution of human social behavior (discussed in chapter 10). An elegant and graceful man, he has written about those disputes and those who have most strongly opposed him—“Without a trace of irony I can say I have been blessed with brilliant enemies. I owe them a great debt, because they redoubled my energies and drove me in new directions.”
