In Reluctant Modernism American Thought and Culture 1880ampndash1900 George Cotkin surveys the intellectual life of this crucial transitional period. His story begins with the Darwinian controversies since the mainstream of American culture was just beginning to come to grips with the implications of the Origins of Species. Cotkin demonstrates the effects of this shift in thinking on philosophy anthropology and the newly developing field of psychology. Throughout this fascinating readable history of the American fin de siampegravecle run the contrasting themes of continuity and change faith and rationalism despair over the meaninglessness of life and ultimately a guarded optimism about the future.