Mark Twain, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the Head Readers: Literature, Humor, and Faddish Phrenology

by Stanley Finger

Having a phrenological 'head reading' was one of the most significant fads of the nineteenth century - a means for better knowing oneself and a guide for self-improvement. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) had a lifelong yet long overlooked interest in phrenology, the pseudoscience claiming to correlate skull features with specialized brain areas and higher mental traits. Twain's books are laced with phrenological terms and concepts, and he lampooned the...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1009301292
• ISBN13: 9781009301299
• Release Date: April 2023
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 332 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.7"