During the Gilded Age, which saw the dawn of America’s enduring culture wars, Robert Green Ingersoll was known as “the Great Agnostic.” The nation’s most famous orator, he raised his voice on behalf of Enlightenment reason, secularism, and the separation of church and state with a vigor unmatched since America’s revolutionary generation. When he died in 1899, even his religious enemies acknowledged that he might have aspired to the U.S. presidency had he been willing to mask his opposition to religion. To the question that retains its controversial power today—was the United States founded as a Christian nation?—Ingersoll answered an emphatic no.
In this provocative biography, Susan Jacoby, the author of Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism, restores Ingersoll to his rightful place in an American intellectual tradition extending from Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine to the current generation of “new atheists.” Jacoby illuminates the ways in which America’s often-denigrated and forgotten secular history encompasses issues, ranging from women’s rights to evolution, as potent and divisive today as they were in Ingersoll’s time. Ingersoll emerges in this portrait as one of the indispensable public figures who keep an alternative version of history alive. He devoted his life to that greatest secular idea of all—liberty of conscience belonging to the religious and nonreligious alike.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0300137257
Book Description hardcover. Condition: New. Hardcover and dust jacket. Good binding and cover. Clean, unmarked pages. Seller Inventory # 2405070064
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. 1st Edition. Seller Inventory # K04-5GHY7-003
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0300137257
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0300137257
Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. 0.9. Seller Inventory # 0300137257-2-1
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published 0.9. Seller Inventory # 353-0300137257-new
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon0300137257
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0300137257
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Brand New!. Seller Inventory # VIB0300137257