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Edward Clodd examines the evidence offered for survival after death in The Question: “If a Man Die, Shall He Live Again?” His subject is modern Spiritualism and the history of its reported phenomena, approached through an extended critical discussion of accounts, investigations and proposed explanations.
The book separates physical manifestations from psychical ones. Its sections cover the movement’s early history, clairvoyance, crystal-gazing, telepathy and hallucination, before turning to mediums including Mrs. Piper and Mrs. Leonard. Later discussions address cross-correspondence, Theosophy, Christian Science and the relationship between scientific inquiry and Spiritualism.
The organization allows readers to compare different kinds of claimed evidence. Reports of physical effects are considered separately from claims involving perception, communication or messages assembled through several participants. These distinctions frame Clodd’s treatment of the individual cases and explain why the book moves between historical narrative and arguments about scientific method.
Clodd draws these topics into an argument about what kinds of testimony and observation can support claims about an afterlife. A postscript by H. E. Armstrong and an index complete the volume. First published in Britain in 1917, the work is supplied in the complete 1918 New York edition issued by Edward J. Clode. The original organization makes it possible to read individual controversies in context or follow the author’s examination from its historical opening through its concluding assessment.