The Martyrdom of Man

A book of the author`s thoughts on the history of the world, with inclusion of some remarkable predictions for the future. Includes chapters on war - Western Asia, the Persians, Carthage and Rome, the Arabs, etc; religion - Arabian, Mecca, Israelites, the Jews, etc; liberty - Ancient Europe, the German Invasion, the Portuguese Discoveries, Abolition, etc.; and intellect. This classic work first published in 1872.
Reade was an explorer and a disciple of Darwin who acknowledged that Descent of Man had left him little to say `respecting the birth and infancy of the faculties and affections'. His The Martyrdom of Man, an essay in `Universal History', dealing with war, religion, liberty, and intellect, was informed not only by Darwin, but the many other authors listed in the introduction . Reade declared his own atheism in defiance of 'the advice and wishes of several literary friends and his publisher.' The book takes us from Africa and throughout the world.
Winwood Reade (1838-1875) was an atheist, traveler, and controversialist who traveled extensively through Africa, covered the Ashanti War, wrote against Roman Catholicism and other established forms of religion.