Edward Westermarck (1862–1939) grew up in an academic Swedish-speaking family in Helsinki, Finland. He became, at the London School of Economics, Britain’s first professor of sociology. Very famous in his own day for taking an evolution­ary view of marriage and morality, he published (in English) many works: The History of Human Marriage (1891), a critical success and a bestseller, quickly translated into many other languages; The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas (1906; 1908); Marriage Ceremonies in Morocco (1914); Ritual and Belief in Morocco (1926); Ethical Relativity (1932); and Christianity and Morals (1939). He also taught philosophy in Finland, in Helsinki and Turku.