A review by theartolater
Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby
3.0
The book is a history of the secularists/humanists/atheists/agnostics/what-have-you in American history. As a necessary book, it's great - it's filled with a lot of useful information about important secularist types in American history, some of which were very involved in major political and social situations, some less so. The book is a success on that note.
It is more than a little dry, which hurts it considerably. The editorializing was problematic for me, at least - the author definitely, and unfortunately, wears her biases completely on her sleeve. Plus, it does venture into Zinn-style territory at some times, which was completely unnecessary and took away from the book considerably in my mind.
I'm glad I read this, but I'm not 100% sure I could recommend it to anyone in particular. This may be the best book of its kind we can get, which wouldn't be a bad thing, but wouldn't exactly be good, either.
It is more than a little dry, which hurts it considerably. The editorializing was problematic for me, at least - the author definitely, and unfortunately, wears her biases completely on her sleeve. Plus, it does venture into Zinn-style territory at some times, which was completely unnecessary and took away from the book considerably in my mind.
I'm glad I read this, but I'm not 100% sure I could recommend it to anyone in particular. This may be the best book of its kind we can get, which wouldn't be a bad thing, but wouldn't exactly be good, either.