Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism

by Susan Jacoby

Paper Book, 2005

Status

Available

Call number

211.4097

Genres

Religion & Spirituality

Collection

Religions, Evangelism, Cults, Spiritualism

Publication

Holt Paperbacks (2004), 448 pages

Description

Chronicles two centuries of secularism in the United States, exploring this rich thread in American life and history and speculating on its continual role in society.

Media reviews

The New York Times

Ardent and insightful, Ms. Jacoby seeks to rescue a proud tradition from the indifference of posterity.

— 1 more

Washington Post

The great virtue of Susan Jacoby’s book is that it succeeds so well in its own original intent: showing that secularism, agnosticism and atheism are as American as cherry pie. Indeed, this is the first and only country to adopt a Constitution that specifically excludes all reference to a higher

power... In lucid and witty prose, Jacoby has uncovered the hidden history of secular America, and awarded it a large share of credit in every movement for social and political reform... If the book has a fault, it is the near-axiomatic identification of the secular cause with the liberal one. Susan Jacoby has what might be called ACLU politics. To read her, you would not know that two of the most prominent intellectual gurus of American conservatism — Ayn Rand and Leo Strauss — were both determined nonbelievers. H.L. Mencken, who if not exactly a conservative was certainly not a liberal, had vast contempt for religion but is cited only briefly here for his role in the Scopes trial in Tennessee.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member jcbrunner

An excellent examination of US secular protagonists of the 18th to the 20th century that loses steam as modern issues are approached. The chapter on abolitionism and early feminism is outstanding as is the examination of the (non-)religiosity of Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately, conservatives and

fundamentalists will probably refrain from studying the mistaken ideas of their spiritual ancestors and reexamine their own positions.

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15 more

LibraryThing member itsmemaven

This *should* be included in high school history classes so that before folks go off into the real world and believe what they want to believe, at least they have a solid foundation of what this country was founded upon.

LibraryThing member yapete

Great book. Details a history that is too often forgotten or glossed over by our religiously correct media. The people introduced in this book are true heroes of thought and humanity!

LibraryThing member Devil_llama

This book details the history of religious dissent in America. There have been all too few books written of this nature, but fortunately this one came along to fill the void with erudition and elegant prose.

LibraryThing member selfnoise

An excellent, energetic work of historical examination. Americans often seem profoundly queasy in the presence of secular thought, and this can be reflected in our seeking to frame our brief history in a way that sidelines expressions of the same. Freethinkers is a great step towards correcting

this error, and acknowledging the extensive contributions that secular thinkers have made to American society.

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LibraryThing member nabhill

‘Freethinkers’ provides an interesting history, one not often covered by history books, from an interesting perspective. The book presents the role of secularists in shaping the framework and the laws of the U.S. and in safeguarding the rights of its citizens; and necessarily also presents a

less than flattering role of the religious and religious organizations in the same. The author appears to have extensively researched the subject and has presented those facts that support her thesis. While not unbiased, the book is nonetheless a persuasive argument for separation of state and religion that reminds readers why the U.S. has a “godless” constitution.

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LibraryThing member Qshio

Truly eye-opening. You can not only see how secularists and nonbelievers have been written out of our history, but how it is happening before our eyes today. Even more alarming, is the process by which religious interests of today claim the successes and sacrifices of yesterday's secularists for

themselves. Read this and see history differently.

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LibraryThing member ThomasCWilliams

An excellent history of Freethought in the United States. Note the reference to the influence of Volney's Ruins of Empires on Abraham Lincoln in Chapter 4. There is also a brief (non-indexed) reference to Joel Barlow in Chapter 2.

There is a potential for more research here: the various 19th century

editions of the Jefferson/Barlow translation appear to coincide with the establishment of the abolitionist/women's rights movements in the pre-civil war period (see the Gaylord edition in my library) as well as during the so-called Golden Age of Freethought (1870-99: see the Josiah Mendum (Boston Investigator), Calvin Blanchard and Truth Seeker Press editions).

It would be interesting to confirm whether Freethinkers such as Ernestine Rose, Lucretia Mott, Robert Ingersoll, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Clarence Darrow ever read Volney's Ruins.

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LibraryThing member Clueless

Eloquent explanation of how the religious right has gotten a strangelhold on politics today.

Chilling.

I'm old enough to remember the Goldwater/Kennedy presidential race and am appalled about how such recent history has been already revised.

Jacoby gives a clear if not concise history of how the

American constitution was specifically written with no mention of faith. The strange bedfellows formed along the way as various groups defended the division of the separation of church and state brought a smile to my lips.

I always balked at the sanitized and biased way history was taught in my midwestern public school. Now I know why.

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LibraryThing member JBD1

A very readable and informative survey of agnosticism and other fields in American history.

LibraryThing member wirkman

I did not finish this book. I really enjoyed early sections, but when I got to the author's treatment of Herbert Spencer, I realized that either she had not read Spencer, was a liar, or else an ideologue utterly unfitted to do scholarly work. The untrustworthiness of that section is so amazingly

flagrant that I could not in good conscience continue reading the book.

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LibraryThing member cdogzilla

The great tradition of American Freethought is sadly neglected. I'm not sure I read about Darrow or Paine in school -- maybe Paine, in passing -- but certainly not Ingersoll. If I hadn't sought out Darrow, after seeing "Inherit the Wind" as a youngster, or gone off on my own to read Twain beyond

Huck Finn, I'm not sure how I would've even know to look for this sort of history. Jacoby effectively conveys both how ignored, maligned, and absolutely crucial to the health of our democracy our heritage of freethought is. It's unlikely my kids will get assigned reading from this book in school, but I'm glad I have it to help fill in the gaps.

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LibraryThing member bibleblaster

A fascinating walk through American history from the perspective of "infidels, atheists, freethinkers, agnostics, deists, heretics." Made me think once again of how people are defined in terms of religion (e.g. "people of faith," "believers," etc.) and how "freethinkers" are thus defined most often

in negative terms (unbelievers, heretics, "people of no faith,"--I think Obama might even have said that).

Also, the way religions tend to whitewash their histories so that it seems like they've always been on the "right" side of peoples' movements.

And reminded me of the great danger in tying morality/ethics to (someone's conception of) God.

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LibraryThing member UncleSamZ

An impressive compendium of the freethinker movement. Will keep in my core library and have already begun reading other sources referenced in this work. Am keeping an ebook copy handy for follow up reading.

LibraryThing member delta351

A fascinating book so far.

Founding Fathers rode a brief window of secularism that enabled them to implement the separation of church & state in rge Constitution.

Lincoln chapter was ironic in that people remade history in their memories of his religious convictions, and how he invoked more biblical

imagery in his speeches as he progressed in his presidency.

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LibraryThing member wagner.sarah35

If anything, this book is a bit dated (it was published in 2004), but the issues the author details about debates regarding the separation of church and state are still relevant today. As someone who often aligns more with a secular approach to most issues, this book is refreshing and inspiring in

its journey through the secular history of the United States and its focus on the well-known (like Jefferson and Lincoln) and the less well-know (like Thomas Paine and Robert Ingersoll) as a very American story of secularism emerges. This volume is by no means a definitive history and I would argue several topics and figures deserve a more thorough examination, but it is a example of applying a secular lens on American history and through that, telling a new story about the country's past.

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