The Angel and the Machine: The Rational Psychology of Nathaniel Hawthorne

By the middle of the 19th century, American writers found themselves caught between conflicting philosophies and paradigms. The Angel and the Machine examines the conflicting paradigms at the heart of the culture's view of human nature. It explicates this cultural phenomenon by examining the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, viewing him as the culmination of a tradition with roots in the history both of science and of religion.