Harvard psychologist and philosopher William James' The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature explores the nature of religion and, in James' observation, its divorce from science when studied academically. After publication in 1902 it quickly became a canonical text of philosophy and psychology, remaining in print through the entire century. "Scientific theories are organically conditioned just as much as religious emotions are; and if we only knew the facts intimately enough, we should doubtless see 'the liver' determining the dicta of the sturdy atheist as decisively as it does those of the Methodist under conviction anxious about his soul. When it alters in one way the blood that percolates it, we get the Methodist, when in another way, we get the atheist form of mind."
"Witch Wood" is a historical novel set in 17th century Scotland. The story follows a minister who tries to prevent worshiping the devil and keep his congregation safe. The witchcraft is practiced in the Wood of Caledon in the Scottish Borders. However, the minister's congregation is divided as a result of the civil unrest caused by the Scottish war. Will he be able to bring them under one fold again? It was written by John Buchan, a Scottish novelist and public servant who combined a successful career as an author of thrillers, historical novels, histories, and biographies.
Degeneration is a book by Max Nordau which was published in two volumes. Within this work, he attacks what he believed to be degenerate art and comments on the effects of a range of social phenomena of the period, such as rapid urbanization and its perceived effects on the human body. Nordau believed degeneration should be diagnosed as a mental illness because those who were deviant were sick and required therapy.