By the end of the nineteenth century, almost all the great writers, artists and intellectuals had abandoned Christianity, and many had abandoned belief in God altogether. A.N. Wilson demonstrates through such diverse lives as those of Gibbon, Kant, and Marx, the doubt about religion had many sources. By 1900 the Church was vastly rich and powerful, but was seen by many as spiritually empty, however full its pews might be of a Sunday. Echoes of the death of God could be heard everywhere; in the revolutionary politics of Garibaldi and Lenin; in the poetry of Tennyson, the plays of Shaw and the novels of Hardy; in the philosophy of Hegel and in the work of Freud; in the first stirrings of feminism. Wilson's fascinating and challenging account shows how the decline of religious certainty in Victorian times had its origins with the eighteenth-century sceptics - but brought a devastating sense of emotional loss which extends to our own times.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
Wilson's rare combination of extraordinary scholarship with an almost pathological sense of mischief makes him the most entertaining writer we have MAIL ON SUNDAY Wilson has so clear a grasp of opposing principles and personalities that he is able effortlessly to make them live again THE TIMES An extraordinary arc of knowledge and astonishing range of reading SUNDAY TIMES An illuminating analysis of Victorian religious doubt DAILY TELEGRAPH
About the Author
A. N. Wilson holds a prominent position in the world of letters and has been Literary Editor of both the EVENING STANDARD and the SPECTATOR. He has written lives of Sir Walter Scott (John Llewellyn Rhys Prize) and Tolstoy (Whitbread Award) amongst others, and is a celebrated novelist.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet.
|
|||
|
Video reviews
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
