Oscar Wilde deemed his life "perfect," and described him as a man with "a soul of that beautiful white Christ which seems coming out of Russia." He is PETER ALEXEYEVICH KROPOTKIN (1842-1921), communist advocate and "anarchist prince."

Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, first published in 1902, is his best known book. Written as a series of essays for a British literary journal, this intriguing work filters concepts of evolution through Kropotkins appreciation for altruism and anarchy, positing cooperation not merely as a beneficial political concept but as an approach that has been-and will...