Rachel E. Walker, "Beauty and the Brain: The Science of Human Nature in Early America"
English | ISBN: 0226822567 | 2022 | 288 pages | PDF | 8 MB
English | ISBN: 0226822567 | 2022 | 288 pages | PDF | 8 MB
Examining the history of phrenology and physiognomy, Beauty and the Brain proposes a bold new way of understanding the connection between science, politics, and popular culture in early America.
Between the 1770s and the 1860s, people all across the globe relied on physiognomy and phrenology to evaluate human worth. These once-popular but now discredited disciplines were based on a deceptively simple premise: that facial features or skull shape could reveal a person’s intelligence, character, and personality. In the United States, these were culturally ubiquitous sciences that both elite thinkers and ordinary people used to understand human nature.
While the modern world dismisses phrenology and physiognomy as silly and debunked disciplines,
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