The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, Atheism, & Anthropology in France

Hecht, Jennifer Michael

ISBN 10: 0231128460 / ISBN 13: 9780231128469

Published by New York: Columbia University Press, 2003

About this Item

Octavo. B&W illustrations. Condition: small stain & bump to fore-edge of front cover; award label inside front cover; else near fine in fine DJ. Pages: xii, 402. Seller Inventory # 7147A

Bibliographic Details

Title: The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, ...

Publisher: New York: Columbia University Press

Publication Date: 2003

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

On October 19, 1876 a group of leading French citizens, joined together to form the Society of Mutual Autopsy, with the aim of proving that souls do not exist. With this group as its focus, The End of the Soul is a study of science and atheism in France in late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It shows that anthropology grew out of a struggle between tradition (especially Catholicism) and modernism, and that it became for many a secular religion, with such adherents as Emile Zola, Margaret Sanger, and Arthur Conan Doyle.

About the Author:

Jennifer Michael Hecht is the author of Doubt: A History and two award-winning books of poetry, The Next Ancient World and Funny. She is a contributor to The New York Times and The Washington Post and is a fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities.