The Martyrdom of Man Audiobook By Winwood Reade cover art

The Martyrdom of Man

Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options

The Martyrdom of Man

By: Winwood Reade
Narrated by: Denis Daly
Try for $0.00

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.41

Buy for $24.41

Explorer, journalist, and novelist, William Winwood Reade was born at Murrayfield, near Crieff in 1838, and died at Wimbledon in 1875.

A nephew of Charles Reade, he explored a wide range of literary genres, including history, travelogues, and fiction.

First published in 1872, The Martyrdom of Man has been described as the first synoptic history of mankind. It was one of the first surveys of history based on the then-controversial principle of organic evolution. The book received a very mixed reception: Cecil Rhodes lauded the work, stating that it had "made him the man he was", while William Ewart Gladstone stated that it was so dangerous that it should be banned.

The book is divided into four lengthy chapters: War, Religion, Liberty, and Intellect. Reade expresses his view of human development in the final chapter: "Society is not maintained by the conjectures of theology, but by those moral sentiments, those gregarious virtues, which elevated men above the animals, which are now instinctive in our natures, and to which intellectual culture is propitious."

Public Domain (P)2021 Voices of Today
Philosophy World
All stars
Most relevant
not much to dislike as a book of someone from the late 1800s. some genetic theories were wrong

last chapter is soooo good. amazing it was written in 1870

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.