Novelist, social theorist, and literary critic. Martineau was born to a Unitarian textile manufacturing family of Huguenot ancestry. From her early childhood, Martineau experienced health problems that included partial deafness that increased in severity as she aged. In 1829, upon the failure of her family's textile business, Martineau turned to her writing to support herself and her family. Martineau remained unmarried throughout her life and was one of few female writers of her time able to earn enough to support herself. From 1834 to 1836, Martineau lived in the United States and became an avid supporter of the abolitionist movement, which she espoused in her writings for the remainder of her life. In 1846, Martineau traveled to the Middle East, which prompted her study of the evolution of religions. Martineau became skeptical of religion, including her own Unitarianism, and turned toward philosophic atheism, eventually supporting Charles Darwin's emerging theory of evolution. Her most notable works include Illustrations of Political Economy (1834), Deerbrook (1839), The Hour and the Man (1841), Society in America (1837), The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte, Freely Translated and Condensed (1853), Illustrations of Taxation (1834), The Crofton Boys (1841), Letters on the Laws of Man’s Nature and Development (1851, with H.G. Atkinson), The History of the Thirty Years’ Peace, A.D. 1816–1846 (1849), and her Autobiography (published posthumously in 1877). She was a prolific literary critic as well, having gotten her start as a professional writer with "Female Writers on Practical Divinity," a piece she submitted pseudonymously to The Monthly Repository, a small, struggling Unitarian periodical. Her work caught the attention of the editor who assigned her criticism in a wide range of subjects, including religion and metaphysics, aesthetics, prison reform, the condition of women, even the expansion of the British empire. This work contributed to her intellectual growth and brought her to the attention of other periodical editors, extending her range of influence. Martineau is also remembered as an overlooked founder of sociology.