Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism
by Susan Jacoby
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone
I get so weary of hearing people say that the United States of America is a Christian nation. It is not.
Freethinkers explains this essential fact in an interesting fashion.
Susan Jacoby chronicles secularist thought from the revolutionary period until the present, bringing it to life by profiling Americans like Bob Ingersoll, "The Great Agnostic."
I strongly recommend this book to everyone. Those who believe that the USA is a Christian nation will learn that it is no...more
Freethinkers explains this essential fact in an interesting fashion.
Susan Jacoby chronicles secularist thought from the revolutionary period until the present, bringing it to life by profiling Americans like Bob Ingersoll, "The Great Agnostic."
I strongly recommend this book to everyone. Those who believe that the USA is a Christian nation will learn that it is no...more
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Read in February, 2008
A lively history of American antispiritualism, with a stellar cast. "The first six presidents of the United States did not invoke the blessings of the deity as frequently in their entire public careers as President Bush does each month," writes freelance journalist Jacoby. Bless their innocent souls, those six presidents took the constitutional separation of church and state seriously, even as a couple of them-Jefferson and Madison-harbored deistic notions (God may not be dead, but he...more
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Read in September, 2007
This book was a shock to me in many ways. I was unaware of the very early opposition to the godless constitution of the United States. Quite unrealistically, I had thought the cultural wars debating the role of religion in government and the role of government in religion originated in the 20th century.
The book also introduced me to the works of Col. Robert Ingersoll, who seems to be an amazing speaker on the topics of religion, government, and liberty. I am quite appreciative that I have fo...more
The book also introduced me to the works of Col. Robert Ingersoll, who seems to be an amazing speaker on the topics of religion, government, and liberty. I am quite appreciative that I have fo...more
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Read in June, 2008
I just finished this book! Mindy - its back at the library now. I am amazed how many freethinkers there were that helped end slavery and get the women's movement started. You wouldn't know it from standard history books, which tend to ignore the non-religious, or ingnore the fact that many historical figures were non-religious. It is also evident that the struggle to keep America secular has been ongoing since the consitution was framed. Since the book was written in 2004, the last chapter is a ...more
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Read in May, 2005
This is one of those books you read, enjoy, and are satisfied by and then when someone asks you what was the last good book you read your mind tries in vain to remember it.
Jacoby writes beautifully and with a satisfying amount of research on one of the topics that can never seem to generate enough steam in the public arena.
The only real beef I have is her treatment of Lincoln. I think she's right that he was indeed a secularist but I think she splits way too many hairs trying to m...more
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Read in June, 2007
One of my favorite freethinkers is Susan Jacoby. So I'm biased. I've had a crush on her for years. Freethinkers is a good book--in it Jacoby details the strong historical secular libertarian, freethinking and humanist roots of the U.S. Especially enjoyable, for me, was that she includes a concise yet personalized history of suffrage and emancipation movements and how closely they are tied together. Frequently historical threads underlying current political and social movements and issues ar...more
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Read in March, 2008
This is an excellent and fair history of American secularism. Susan Jacoby reclaims American history from the religious right. She writes of freethinkers, deists, atheists, agnostics and other dissenters and their involvement in the drafting of the constitution, the abolition and suffragist movements, the progressive and freethinker movements, and the attacks on secularism from the red scare, the Scopes Trial and McCarthyism. This is a great book for those that have bought the lie that the US...more
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Despite the boring cover, it's actually really interesting and not a rough read at all. This is the history of how secular American politicians have been written out of contemporary history or their secularist views have been rewritten. Great quote: "The message is clear: we may be a multicultural people, but we're all respectable as long as we worship God in some way." Hell, yeah! The details of my worship or non-worship are just about the most private matter I can imagine. No one els...more
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
everyone
the great achievements of secularists/athiests have been left out of history on purpose by christians to keep us down!, keep up the bs notion that we are morally inferior. The fact that our constitution was intented to be the basis of a secular gov't, and over time christianity has infiltrated and polluted our government, and it is getting worse - and the repercussions are and will be severe. Susan Jacoby is a brilliant thinker and writer. Incredibly relevant book.
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Read in January, 2006
Think the United States was founded on Chrsitian principles? You're wrong. Jacoby articulates why in her book Freethinkers, putting to rest any notion that the founders were driven by Christian ideals. Instead, the country was founded on principles established during the Enlightenment, not the Dark Ages. A great read!
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Read in January, 2005
This was an inspiring book in a way. It shows that freethinking and secularism is an important part of American history, despite constant attempts to make us a more christian nation. It is good to see that there have always been voices of reason to argue against the pull of religious repression of rationality.
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I really liked this book, but this is another one of those books that leads to other books and then, before you know it, you're in way over your head with supplemental reading material.
But it's a good history of freethinking(ism?)and I recall it was a fascinating read.
But it's a good history of freethinking(ism?)and I recall it was a fascinating read.
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
Everyone
I learned so much and could not stop turning the pages. So much good done by reality based independent thinkers.
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Read in January, 2004
I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I found it to be a good read and low on vitrole. It's the book I want to throw into the face of any number of fundies, blowhards, or faith-based citizen actors.
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Read in January, 2006
Excellent book! There is much more history regarding our founding forefathers than most people are aware of.
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Read in April, 2008
Informative history of secularism in the US.
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Read in January, 2003
This is a fascinating read. I truly enjoyed it.
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