Marriage is the novel's traditional subject matter. But what happens to the novel when another genre of writing lays claim to the novel's traditional material? Primitive Marriage: Victorian Anthropology, the Novel, and Sexual Modernity shows how the foundational ideas of the new discipline of anthropology gave late-Victorian novelists and social scientists ways of rethinking heterosexual romance by referring to a new kind of history, one in which marriage systems, sexual behavior, and reproductive practices were temporalized and given historical agency. Temporalizing sexual relations, locating them in evolutionary and historical time, anthropologists and the novelists who wrote after them began to think modernity in sexual terms. This transformation of politics into sexual politics put sexuality and gender at the center of liberal stories of progress. The Victorian theorists responsible for this transformation—from well-known figures like Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud to lesser-known writers like John McLennan and Henry Maine—and the novelists who engaged them—Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, Henry James, Sarah Grand, H. Rider Haggard, Thomas Hardy—not only helped produce sexually modern subjects, but also the theories about sexuality, time, and politics that we still draw upon to think modernity today.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1886.

The Urantia Papers - Unknown - The Urantia Papers is a spiritual and philosophical book that originated in Chicago sometime between 1924 and 1955. The authorship remains a matter of speculation. The authors introduce the word Urantia as the name of the planet Earth and state that their intent is to present enlarged concepts and advanced truth. The book aims to unite religion, science and philosophy, and its enormous amount of material about science is unique among literature claimed to be presented by celestial beings. Among other topics, the book discusses the origin and meaning of life, mankind's place in the universe, the relationship between God and people, and the life of Jesus. It has been described as a rich and complex moral narrative, equal parts Tolkien and St. Paul.

Marriage is the novel's traditional subject matter. But what happens to the novel when another genre of writing lays claim to the novel's traditional material? Primitive Marriage: Victorian Anthropology, the Novel, and Sexual Modernity shows how the foundational ideas of the new discipline of anthropology gave late-Victorian novelists and social scientists ways of rethinking heterosexual romance by referring to a new kind of history, one in which marriage systems, sexual behavior, and reproductive practices were temporalized and given historical agency. Temporalizing sexual relations, locating them in evolutionary and historical time, anthropologists and the novelists who wrote after them began to think modernity in sexual terms. This transformation of politics into sexual politics put sexuality and gender at the center of liberal stories of progress. The Victorian theorists responsible for this transformation--from well-known figures like Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud to lesser-known writers like John McLennan and Henry Maine--and the novelists who engaged them--Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, Henry James, Sarah Grand, H. Rider Haggard, Thomas Hardy--not only helped produce sexually modern subjects, but also the theories about sexuality, time, and politics that we still draw upon to think modernity today.

Anthropological, historical and sociological study of marriage.

“Eller is an excellent historian. She expertly lays out the development of the little known myth of matriarchal prehistory in a way that is both highly knowledgeable and readable. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of feminist thought and anthropology.” —Rosemary Radford Ruether, author of Goddesses and the Divine Feminine “Without a doubt, this is the best introduction into the mythological jungle of modern scholarship on matriarchy. Cynthia Eller’s book is not only perfectly researched, it is also intelligent and pleasantly written.” —Philippe Borgeaud, author of Mother of the Gods: From Cybele to the Virgin Mary