Empire of Skulls

Phrenology, the Fowler Family, and a New Nation's Quest to Unlock the Secrets of the Mind

By: Paul Stob

Narrated by: Braden Wright

An absorbing tale of science and showmanship, ideology and enterprise, that provides not just a fascinating history of our country, but also crucial insight into the deep currents that continue to propel modern life

During the contentious and progressive antebellum era, the Fowler family preached a gospel of self-improvement to a nation eager to embrace its foundational beliefs. For the first time, this new “science” of phrenology offered all Americans the ability to improve their station by unlocking their innate mental and emotional truths. Revered politicians, quirky celebrities, infamous criminals, and social outcasts all found their way to the Fowlers for skull readings.

Brimming with the energy to change the world, the Fowlers connected phrenology to practically every aspect of life in the young nation—from abolition to women’s rights, temperance to prison reform, spiritualism and mesmerism to vegetarianism and sexual education. But there was a dark side to this fad and to the Fowlers, and soon nefarious forces co-opted this once-hopeful sensation to justify racism and xenophobia.

Phrenology’s complex history stands as a commentary on the dreams and follies of the American republic. Though phrenology (and the Fowlers) ran afoul of the tide of history, its aspirational insistence on an individual’s ability to improve oneself became embedded in the fabric of the nation.

©2026 by Paul Stob. (P)2026 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Stob, a professor of communication at Vanderbilt University, casts a spell with his humorous, witty storytelling and cinematic descriptions of a bygone era . . . A fascinating tale of a nation gripped and shaped by a science/health fad that resonates today."—Kirkus Reviews

"In this original and compelling book, Paul Stob sheds light on a forgotten but vital moment in American life. Absorbing, eloquent, and insightful, Empire of Skulls is nonfiction at its best, an indelible tale that surprises, entertains, and instructs."—Jon Meacham, author of The Call to Serve: The Life of an American President, George Herbert Walker Bush

“With vivid characters and propulsive storytelling, Empire of Skulls reveals how phrenology became entangled with the era's most urgent questions about human nature, social reform, and American destiny. The Fowlers' saga—by turns inspiring, troubling, and darkly comical—shows us a young nation desperate to understand itself, willing to believe that the secrets of human potential lay just beneath the surface of the skin. Paul Stob has created a masterful blend of biography, cultural history, and scientific detective story."—Michael Bess, author of Our Grandchildren Redesigned: Life in the Bioengineered Society of the Near Future