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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 211.4097
EAN: 9780805077766
ISBN: 0805077766
Label: Holt Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Holt Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: January 07, 2005
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Release Date: December 23, 2004
Sales Rank: 53929
Studio: Holt Paperbacks
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
'Jacoby accomplishes her task with clarity, thoroughness, and an engaging passion.'
-Los Angeles Times Book Review
At a time when the separation of church and state is under attack as never before, Freethinkers offers a powerful defense of the secularist heritage that gave Americans the first government in the world founded not on the authority of religion but on the bedrock of human reason. In impassioned, elegant prose, celebrated author Susan Jacoby traces more than two hundred years of secularist activism, beginning with the fierce debate over the omission of God from the Constitution. Moving from nineteenth-century abolitionism and suffragism through the twentieth century's civil liberties, civil rights, and feminist movements, Freethinkers illuminates the neglected achievements of secularists who, allied with tolerant believers, have led the battle for reform in the past and today.
Rich with such iconic figures as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Paine, and the once-famous Robert Green Ingersoll, Freethinkers restores to history the passionate humanists who struggled against those who would undermine the combination of secular government and religious liberty that is the glory of the American system.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Excellent read
This book was excellent in its presentation of the secularist outlook of many American freethinkers. It exposed the nonsense that is presented by many "fundamentalists" and other gullible species and emphasized how many people are led astray by alleged "moral" teaching.
I would recommend the book to all sensible readers.
Rating: - 100 % satisfied
I read the hard bound copy from the library but I wanted my own copy. It was great to find the paperback on amazon.com. Thanks for the prompt efficient help.
Rating: - Free Thinkers
Free Thinkers, a History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby.
An easy read and very informative.
Now I know what a free thinker is, what Secular Humanism is and another part of America I never thought about.
This book is a must to understand the Secular side of America and how it influenced and changed our nation, for the good, down through history.
Rating: - America's Greatest Gift to the World...
....is secular government, the separation of church and state. Jefferson said it most eloquently when he spoke of a "wall of separation," and for once his actions fully complemented his words. Author Susan Jacoby recounts: "In 1799, Jefferson proposed a bill that would guarantee complete legal equality for citizens of all religions, and of no religion, in his home state of Virginia." Jefferson himself wrote that his bill "meant to comprehend, within the mantel of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahometan, the Hindoo, and infidel..." It took seven years of debate to pass Virginia's 1786 Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, urgently supported by James Madison but opposed by the Episcopalian and other mainline churches. Curiously, the "evangelical" Christian denominations of Virginia SUPPORTED this separation of church and state, seeing it as in their interest. Jacoby continues: the Jeffersonian Act, "much to the dismay of religious conservatives, would become the template for the secularist provisions of the federal Constitution." But the orator of freedom, Patrick Henry, who opposed Jefferson's Act with a counter-bill to assess taxes on all Virginians for the support of "teachers of the Christian religion," continued in opposition to the ratification of the Constitution.
Jefferson and Madison were recognized Freethinkers, commonly accused by their opponents of being atheists. "Freethinker" is a much more gracious term than the A-word, which ... Read More
Rating: - Eye-opening
My review from White Crane Journal - Summer 2008
I was a history major in college and have retained a deep interest in historical subjects. I consider myself pretty well-read in history. My time in seminary and a lifetime in the church also left me with what I thought was a pretty good sense of the religious history of the United States. Then I picked up a copy of Susan Jacoby's best-selling book Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism and discovered how little I really knew. It would seem strange that a book about the secularist history of the United States would teach me so much about American religious history but as is often the case, you need to know both sides to understand the full story. Having read and enjoyed this incredibly well-researched and thought-provoking book, I now realize that what I most love about the religious contributions to American culture were forged and informed by its progressive and open exchange with secularists and freethinkers.
Freethinkers came out in 2004 and spent some time on the New York Times best seller lists so it is widely available in paperback now. I can say without reservation that it is the best book I've read this year and perhaps the most mind-altering book of history I've read in the last ten years. I cannot think of another book that left me with a clarifying "aha!" moment on almost every single page. I tend to read a few books at a time and I've enjoyed savoring Jacoby's writing. It is laid out in chronological order ... Read More
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