Synopses & Reviews
During the Gilded Age, which saw the dawn of Americaandrsquo;s enduring culture wars,and#160;Robert Green Ingersoll was known as andldquo;the Great Agnostic.andrdquo; The nationandrsquo;s most famous orator,and#160;he raised his voice on behalf ofand#160; Enlightenment reason, secularism, and the separation of church and state with a vigor unmatched since Americaandrsquo;s revolutionary generation. When he died in 1899,and#160;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 todayandmdash;was the United States founded as a Christian nation?andmdash;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 ofand#160; andldquo;new atheists.andrdquo; Jacoby illuminates the ways in which Americaandrsquo;s often-denigrated and forgotten secular history encompasses issues, ranging from womenandrsquo;s rights to evolution, as potent and divisive today as they were in Ingersollandrsquo;s time. Ingersoll emerges in this portraitand#160;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 allandmdash;liberty of conscience belongingand#160; to the religious and nonreligious alike.
Review
and#8220;Susan Jacoby has written a necessary, informative, and intelligent survey of the life, times, and writings of a most neglected figure in American history.and#160;A serious and thoughtful reflection on a topic of interest to historians, humanists, and social scientists, let alone general readers, The Great Agnostic will deepen one of the most important of contemporary debates.and#8221;and#8212;Alan Wolfe, author of The Future of Liberalism
Review
and#8220;Jacoby succeeds in capturing Ingersoll's remarkable appeal across sectarian and political boundaries. His warmth, humor, tolerance, and rhetorical skill are vividly conveyed, and they are validated by much contemporaneous testimony from figures who would ordinarily have been expected to shun an infamous blasphemer.and#8221;and#8212;Frederick Crews, University of California, Berkeley
Review
andldquo;As someone who did brave battle with narrow-minded fundamentalists in his own day, Robert Ingersoll would surely be appalled at the political influence of their heirs today. But their very rise makes Susan Jacobyandrsquo;s fine, compact and judicious account of Ingersollandrsquo;s life and ideas all the more important. She has given us a splendid intellectual portrait of an American who deserves to be far better known.andrdquo;andmdash;Adam Hochschild, author of Bury the Chainsand#160;andand#160;To End All Wars
Review
andquot;Robert Ingersoll used his wit to blast the absurdities of religion, while his warmth kept him close to his audiences. He has found his perfect biographer in Susan Jacoby, who uses his story to provide deep insights not only into Ingersollandrsquo;s century but our own.andquot;andmdash;Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of
36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of FictionReview
“A must-read book.” —Bill Moyers, from “Moyers & Co” interview Bill Moyers
Review
and#8220;Jacobyand#8217;s goal of elucidating the life and work of Robert Ingersoll is admirably accomplished. She offers a host of well-chosen quotations from his work, and she deftly displays the effect he had on others.and#160;For instance: after a young Eugene V. Debs heard Ingersoll talk, Debs accompanied him to the train station and then and#8212; just so he could continue the conversation and#8212; bought himself a ticket and rode all the way from Terre Haute to Cincinnati. Readers today may well find Ingersolland#8217;s company equally entrancing.and#8221; and#8212;Jennifer Michael Hecht,and#160;The New York Times Book Review
Review
and#8220;Jacoby writes with wit and vigor, affectionately resurrecting a man whose life and work are due for reconsideration.and#8221;and#8212;Kate Tuttle,and#160;The Boston Globe
Review
and#8220;In this persuasive biography, Jacoby makes the case that Americans are dearly indebted to Ingersoll, and would be well-served to revisit his life and writings at a time when religious thought continues to be a divisive force in American civic life. . . . In this important volume, Jacoby illuminates a mind worth celebrating and the story of a life well lived.and#8221;and#8212;Mythili Rao, The Daily Beast
Review
Wonand#160; Honorable Mention for the 2013 Southern California Book Festival, in the Biography/Autobiography category, sponored by JM Northern Media LLC.
Review
and#8220;A must-read book.and#8221;andnbsp;and#8212;Bill Moyers, from and#8220;Moyers and Coand#8221; interview
Review
Won Honorable Mention in the 2013 Great Midwest Book Festival for the Biography/Autobiography category, given by JM Northern Media LLC
Review
andldquo;With insight and mastery of Rabbinic sources, Rabbi Reuven Hammer has produced an outstanding review of the life of Rabbi Akiva, clarifying his life, thoughts, beliefs, and concerns for the Jewish people. His book will enlighten and captivate readers.andrdquo;andmdash;Shalom Paul, professor emeritus, Bible Department at Hebrew University of Jerusalemand#160;
Review
andldquo;Reuven Hammerandrsquo;s Akiva is a bold and sophisticated engagement with one of the best documented, but nevertheless elusive, figures in early Rabbinic Judaism. By judiciously weighing Akivaandrsquo;s complex literary legacy, Rabbi Hammer encourages readers to explore how we know the past and what it can teach us in the present.andrdquo;andmdash;Ivan G. Marcus, Frederick P. Rose Professor of Jewish History at Yale Universityand#160;
Synopsis
A biography that restores Americaand#8217;s foremost nineteenth-century champion of reason and secularism to our still contested twenty-first-century public square
Synopsis
The legendary Akiva ben Yosef has fascinated Jews for centuries. One of and arguably the most important of the Tannaim, or early Jewish sages, he lived during a crucial era in the development of Judaism as we know it today, and his theology played a major part in the development of Rabbinic Judaism. Reuven Hammer details Akivaandrsquo;s life as it led to a martyrandrsquo;s death and delves into the rich legacy Akiva left us.
That legacy played an extraordinarily important role in helping the Jewish people survive difficult challenges and forge a vibrant religious life anew and it continues to influence Jewish law, ethics, and theology even today. Akivaandrsquo;s contribution to the development of Oral Torah cannot be overestimated, and in this first book written in English about the sage since 1936, Hammer reassesses Akivaandrsquo;s role from the period before the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE until the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 135 CE. He also assesses new findings about the growth of early Judaism, the reasons why Akiva was so outspoken about andldquo;Christian Jews,andrdquo; the influence of Hellenism, the Septuagint, and the canonization of the Hebrew Bible. Ultimately, Hammer shows that Judaism without Akiva would be a very different religion.
About the Author
Rabbi Reuven Hammer is the former director and dean of the Jerusalem branch of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), 1974and#8211;92, where he served as a professor of Rabbinic literature. He holds a Doctor of Humane Letters from JTS and a PhD from Northwestern University. He was also the founding director of the Seminary of Jewish Studies (1987and#8211;90). He is the author or editor of many books, including Entering the High Holy Days: A Complete Guide to the History, Prayers, and Themes (JPS, 2005) and Sifre: A Taanaitic Commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, both National Jewish Book Award winners.
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