Henry A. Gleason was a half generation after that small group of midwesterners who founded ecology as a discipline in the United States. He was a student of Stephen Forbes and his early work in ecology was influenced strongly by Cowles and Frederic E. Clements. He did later, however, in 1935, claim standing—bowing only to Cowles and Clements and for some reason not including Forbes—as "the only other original ecologist in the country." And he was original. His work built on that of the founders, but he quickly and actively questioned their ideas and concepts, especially those of Clements, in the process creating controversy and polarization in the ecological community. Gleason called himself an "ecological outlaw" and probably over-emphasized his early lack of acceptance in ecology, but in a resolution of respect from the Ecological Society of...