Freethought on the American Frontier [Hardcover]

Fred Whitehead (Author), Verle Muhrer (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1992

This important collection of cultural life in America's heartland will prove indispensable to our understanding of the history of the struggle between the forces of repression and Puritanism on the one hand, and those who raised on high the banner of free thought on the other. The issues and ideas generated by this historical conflict continue to play a critical role on our present-day debates on ethics, education, culture, and the very future of the American people.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA-- This collection of memoirs, essays, political cartoons, songs, and poetry is an excellent primary source on the social history of the West. Its major focus is on the free-thought movement that was taking place during the 19th century, thus providing a contrast to the movements that were coming out of the East at that time. Essays by such social critics as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Mark Twain, Carl Sandburg, and Langston Hughes are included. Populist, Socialist, and labor-related issues are also presented. The book has good illustrations and political cartoons. However, there is no index, and some background information is required.
- Edward M. Cooley, R . E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 314 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; 1St Edition edition (March 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879756985
• ISBN-13: 978-0879756987
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #290,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars (Lack Of) Faith Of Our Fathers, April 5, 2003

By 

Joseph Kimsey "Fareastnibelung" (Pac NW) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Freethought on the American Frontier (Hardcover)

This anthology of free-thought essays and humor effectively destroys the notion that American secularism and progressive-thought are twentieth-century developments.

Foremost among these selections is Mark Twain's hilarious description of the Christian heaven: everybody sings boisterously, play harps incessantly, are forced to love & hug all those that they disdain in this life, are denied sexual pleasure for eternity, and are utterly compelled to dispense with their intellect. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?

Another particularly powerful piece is by the black poet, Langston Hughes. Entitled "Salvation", Hughes describes his boyhood experience of fabricating belief in Jesus with powerful lyricism. Clarence Darrow, of Scopes Monkey trial fame, also has a moving essay concerning the failures of his father. Robert Ingersoll's essay, "Why I Am An Agnostic" is a powerful and utterly convincing argument and the cartoons of Watson Heston are very funny and still painfully relevant.

Perhaps the most impressive essay is "The Village Atheist", penned by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius. This interesting person edited a free-thought newspaper and published "Little Blue Book" pamphlets that allowed lower-income folk to own classics by Shakespeare & Thomas Paine, as well as taking on the draconian J. Edgar Hoover in print.

5.0 out of 5 stars essential history: inspiring -- and fun, November 20, 2008

By 

Lyman A. Baker (Orlando, FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Freethought on the American Frontier (Hardcover)

Whitehead and Muhrer (from both sides of the state line in Kansas City) have delivered a well-organized and helpfully-introduced sample of free-thought writing from the time of settlement in the American West (including parts of the South, notably Texas). It's a highly useful point of entry for acquiring a sense of the historical continuity in the fight for free thought in the U.S. It's also highly entertaining: the writing (both of the original authors, and of the anthologists) has an engaging edge to it -- witty, and often hilarious. Most importantly, it's an inspiring reminder of how courageous some of our forebears were in defending against the depredations of religious totalitarians who sought to intimidate new communities into conformity with their dogmatically-grounded social views.