Determined Spirits

Determined Spirits is the first volume of the Edinburgh Critical Studies In Victorian Culture series. This work of literary criticism examines the intersection of the Spiritualist movement and the rise of eugenic and hard hereditarian thought from the mid-19th to the early 20th century. Christine Ferguson analyzes how transatlantic spiritualist literature incorporated bio-determinist ideas regarding race improvement and rational reproduction.

The text explores how these beliefs influenced 19th century and 20th century understandings of disability, intelligence, and the afterlife. Drawing on rare periodicals and manuals, the study highlights the continuity between British and American perspectives on mental fitness. This scholarly analysis of religion and spirituality includes a focused look at the raciological writing of Paschal Beverly Randolph, providing an interdisciplinary perspective on the body and reproduction within European and American cultural contexts.