The Unbelievers

Atheism once a minority view is now openly embraced by an increasing number of scientists philosophers politicians and celebrities. How did this formerly closeted secular perspective gain its current prominence as a philosophically viable and challenging worldview? In this succinct history of modern atheism a prolific author editor and scholar traces the development of atheist agnostic and secularist thought over the past century and a half. Beginning in the nineteenth century when intellectuals first openly voiced skepticism about long-standing Christian beliefs Joshi considers the impact of several leading thinkers: Thomas Henry Huxley (Darwin's Bulldog) Leslie Stephen John Stuart Mill Friedrich Nietzsche and Mark Twain. Each of these writers in different ways made searing criticisms of such religious conceptions as the immortality of the soul the doctrine of biblical inerrancy and the existence of God at a time when such notions were largely taken for granted. Next the author examines prominent atheist thinkers of the early twentieth century: attorney Clarence Darrow journalist H. L. Mencken philosopher Bertrand Russell and horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Around the same time as Darrow and Mencken were involved in the celebrated Scopes trial in America which resulted in a triumph for the theory of evolution Bertrand Russell in England was becoming well known as a forthright atheist. And Lovecraft was championing atheism in his novels and tales. Turning to recent decades the author considers the uproar caused by outspoken atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair and the controversial 1962 school prayer Supreme Court decision. Finally he evaluates the work of best-selling authors Gore Vidal Richard Dawkins Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. In each case he carefully dissects the views of the writers in question and points out both the strengths and fallacies or ambiguities in their arguments. This excellent intellectual history will be a welcome addition to the libraries of readers of both secular and religious orientations seeking a greater understanding of contemporary atheism.