author
C. Staniland (Charles Staniland) Wake
1835–1910
An early British anthropologist who wrote about religion, myth, morality, and kinship, he spent much of his career exploring how human beliefs and social customs developed across cultures. His books range from studies of serpent worship and ancient symbols to broad theories about marriage and moral evolution.
1 Audiobook
Serpent-Worship, and Other Essays, with a Chapter on Totemism
by C. Staniland (Charles Staniland) Wake
About the author
Born in Kingston upon Hull on March 22, 1835, Charles Staniland Wake was a British anthropologist whose work moved across religion, symbolism, ethics, and social organization. Reliable reference sources identify him as an anthropologist, and the Royal Anthropological Institute’s history resources note that he later migrated to the United States, dying in Chicago on June 21, 1910.
Wake published widely on big, ambitious subjects. His better-known books include The Evolution of Morality (1878), The Origin and Significance of the Great Pyramid (1882), Serpent-Worship and Other Essays (1888), and The Development of Marriage and Kinship (1889). Together, they show a writer interested in the deep history of belief, family structures, and the ways societies explain themselves.
Although details of his personal life are not easy to confirm, his surviving record suggests a scholar with wide-ranging interests and a strong taste for comparative ideas. He is still remembered mainly through his books and anthropological writings, which offer a vivid glimpse of nineteenth-century attempts to understand human culture on a grand scale.