A review by hieronymusbotched
On Suicide by Émile Durkheim

4.0

Setting aside the misogyny (if that is, indeed, possible) of a scientific text written in 1897, this remains a stunning account of the social and cultural physics of suicide, a work that finally placed most of the fatal onus on society and not the individual. There is a lot to learn here, whether in subject or in method, and many of the statistics on display (and what they reveal) are genuinely surprising. Why do more people end their lives in summer than winter? Why are economic booms as deadly as busts? It’s all meticulously reasoned out and well worth the time and effort.

A really fascinating read, even if some of the authors assumptions about men and women haven’t aged very well.