At the beginning of each story is a note on where and when the story was first published, and whether it had been previously rejected by another publisher. Joshi and Cannon also dissect each work, asking such questions as, How did Lovecraft invent the name Herbert West? And, How did Lovecraft create the names of fictional rivers and universities in New England? These questions are well-traced and investigated, a real treat for Lovecraft fans. --Samantha Allen Storey

Editor S.T. Joshi has carefully selected these essays, many of which are landmarks in the history of atheistic thought. He has also supplied explanatory annotations and a comprehensive introduction that succinctly and forcefully summarizes the atheist critique of religion.

[I]t is plain that the battle against religious obscurantism must and will continue. The moment one folly is snuffed out, another and still greater folly seems to emerge to take its place. The greatest harm that religion has done, and continues to do -- well beyond such malfeasances as the killing of witches and heretics, the suppression of civil liberties, the disastrous uniting of religion with morality, and the terrorizing of its own adherents with thoughts of hellfire and eternal damnation -- is the subversion of clear thinking. This subversion, in my judgment, corrupts even the social benefits that religion has on occasion provided. My only plea, therefore, is that atheists, agnostics, and secularists speak out a bit more vociferously, even tartly and pungently, against their foes -- for foes they certainly are, not only to human freedom and dignity, but to the advance of all human knowledge and civilization.

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Christianity in Europe was in a state of decline among the intellectual classes. The writings of W. E. H. Leckey, Leslie Stephen, and Walter Lippmann show that leading commentators were openly pondering a European society in which Christianity was a thing of the past.

The increasing success of the natural sciences during this same time period supported the agnostic viewpoint by accounting for phenomena on a natural, rather than a supernatural, basis. Selections from John William Draper, Albert Einstein, Isaac Asimov, and others demonstrate the scientific respectability of agnosticism.

Finally, selections from such thinkers as Frederic Harrison, H. L. Mencken, and Corliss Lamont emphasize how living with agnosticism can be intellectually and morally satisfying, even exhilarating.

Overall, The Agnostic Reader shows how agnosticism can provide a framework for living with courage and dignity.

Reading the unabashed bias against women so evident in these pages brings the entrenched misogyny of American society into vivid focus and makes one appreciate all the more the immense efforts of feminists who for more than a century have worked to overcome the stereotypes of "womanly" behavior long enforced by men.

This volume gathers together for the first time the 850 fables written by Bierce over his forty-year career, including more than 400 fables never reprinted from the magazines and newspapers in which they originally appeared.

Bierces fables are distinguished for their biting wit and their cynical reflection of the political and social events of his time. Local and national political figures; corrupt lawyers, judges, and clergymen; and even incidents in the Spanish-American War are all mercilessly lampooned. The fables not only testify to Bierces hatred of hypocrisy, cant, and all sham but provide a window into late nineteenth-century American society. S. T. Joshi has provided extensive commentary explaining historical and literary references in the fables.

With the deceptive ease and streetwise enlightenment of a weird storytelling master, Michael Shea fearlessly sounds the unplumbed depths of the Cthulhu Mythos to witness visions from which traditional cosmic horror has always averted its dark-adapted gaze.

Examining the writings of such conservative icons as Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley Jr, Phyllis Schlafly, and nine others, Joshi uncovers statements that most people today would consider not just radical but outrageous: · In the 1950s, Russell Kirk opposed Social Security because he said it was "un-Christian." · In the same decade, William F. Buckley Jr. argued against the desegregation of public schools on the grounds that it would be an infringement of states' rights (an argument also used a century earlier to defend slavery). · In the 1970s, Phyllis Schlafly declared that women's liberation is a "disease" and a "homewrecker." Knowing that these positions are today indefensible, conservative spokespersons have little recourse but to engage in passionate invective that attempts to portray their opponents as extremists. Joshi characterizes the aggrieved lament of conservatives as the last gasp of those who know their ideas will be confined to the dustbin of history.

Die vorliegende zweite Hälfte ist größtenteils Autoren gewidmet, für die Joshi etwas mehr übrig hat als für King, Barker und Konsorten. In einem umfangreichen Essay setzt er sich mit Ramsey Campbell auseinander und stellt dabei auch seine eigenen Kriterien für gelungene Erzählungen und -- seltener -- Romane zur Debatte. Außerordentlich fesselnd ist auch seine Analyse der fantastischen Erzählungen von Robert Aickman und Thomas Ligotti, die er ganz besonders schätzt. Unter den so genannten "Splatterpunks" lässt er allerdings nur David J. Schow gelten, insbesondere dessen meisterhaften Roman Der Schacht.

Der verlegerische Mut, dieses Standardwerk in deutscher Sprache zugänglich gemacht zu haben, kann nicht hoch genug gelobt werden, auch wenn die Übersetzung gelegentlich zu wünschen übrig lässt. Hoffen wir, dass wir in Zukunft noch das ein oder andere Sekundärwerk von dieser Qualität vorgelegt bekommen! --Felix Darwin