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The Martyrdom of Man
- Narrated by: Denis Daly
- Length: 18 hrs and 3 mins
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The Martyrdom of Man
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Summary
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."