SHALER, Sophia Penn.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Masters of Fate. First edition, first printing. The work recounts the achievements of physically infirm individuals, accounting how, through force of will, they overcome their limitations and master their fate. The author aims, through example, to offer to disabled individuals models of willpower and achievement.The book serves as a strong defence of the value of the infirm to human civilization, at a time when much writing on the subject was distinctly negative, with support for eugenics growing. Shaler's work was inspired by her husband, the American palaeontologist and theologian Nathaniel Southgate Shaler (1841-1906), whose life was afflicted by physical illness. The final chapter of the book upholds the example of her husband, who died while the work was in the hands of the printer, as a clear illustration of her thesis.

• Printing: first

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