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The Martyrdom of Man, by by British historian, explorer, philosopher, and freethought advocate, William Winwood Reade, was originally published in 1872. The work is a secular and universal history of the Western world. Divided into four chapters, each describing a related topic. The first War, talks of the imprisonment of men throughout various times and nations. The second Religion, talks of religion and thought, again over the span of nations and time, the third, Liberty discusses European political and intellectual history. Finally, the fourth, Intellect, discusses the cosmogonic structure of universal history. The work came to be known as a bible for secularists, in which it attempts to trace the development of Western civilization in a manner similar to the natural sciences. The work was vociferously attacked due to Reade's attack on Christian dogma, and was subsequently condemned by multiple magazines. The work itself was even denounced by then British Prime Minister William Gladstone, as a fundamentally irreligious work. Despite Reade's irreligiosity, he was not an atheist, and had a belief in a non-personal deity beyond the comprehension of the human intellect or the reach of prayer.

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9781673609165

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