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Who's Who in Hell: A Handbook and International Directory for Humanists, Freethinkers, Naturalists, Rationalists, and Non-Theists

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This is an enormously important reference work for anyone who would like to check if a historical or contemporary figure was or is a religious believer. Most standard encyclopedias will provide whole biographies of important persons, but obscure the fact they had grave doubts about God. Many of the fathers of the American Revolution were not Christians, but deists who accepted only the existence of a prime mover not Jesus. This does not prevent foolish, uninformed believers from claiming this country was founded as a "Christian" nation.

Smith will be criticized for many of his difficult choices and assertions. The book distinguishes between major entries, real unbelievers; minor entries of persons who only wrote something related to unbelief, and peripheral entries. To assess a person's belief is always difficult. Our concepts of religion and faith are arbitrary. Different convictions may be expressed in various writings, and belief may change over time. In addition, many persons had reason to obscure their doubts or pretend to a faith they did not share. For this reason, very few modern American politicians will be found in Hell.

Readers will find some good humor, many Nobel laureates in science, literature, and peace, as well as most important philosophers and a few statesmen in Hell. Mark Twain had it truly right when he suggested we go to "Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company." No religious or secular library should be without this book.

Mark Twain`s famous view"Heaven for the climate, andHell for the company!" was endoresed by the author Warren Allen smith. He ridiculed the invention of theologians term "hell" and countered the successful preaching about the unbelievers since centuries. The Author gave cryptic but accurate information starting from ancient period till beginning of 21century,covering entire globe. Along with 50 Noble prize winners, this book gave brief references about recent controversial writers like Salmon Rushdie, Taslima Nasreen. To mention few more: Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius, Protagoras, Erasmus, Diderot, Voltaire, John Dewey, sir Arthur Clarke, Richard Dawkins, Paul Kurtz, Marlon Brando,Noam Chomsky, Bertrand Russell, Katharine Hepburn, M.N.Roy,James Randi, A.J.Aiyer, David Hume,Gore Vidal. This directory makes a case not only for respectability but also for the positive and creative outlook of humanists who have gone unnoticed hitherto.This information is first of its kind.

This is a really unusual book which is entertaining enough to pick up and read from cover to cover. However I think its real value is that it is an interesting and detailed reference book.

Have you ever read a horror novel that makes reference to some obscure demon up from the pits of Hell? This book will tell you all about it. Or some historical romance which makes reference to someone who spoke out against the church? Again, you'll find them here. As well as all manner of people who have spoken out against all manner of things throughout history and from all faiths and view points.

It was the title that made me pick it up in the first place, and I think the suggestion is that these are people/things who would populate the under-world. Rather tongue in cheek I think, but eye catching just the same.

So if you are a serious reader and you like interesting reference books, pick up a copy of this. You may surprise yourself at how often you look at it - it is full of fascinating things!

this impressive tome is truly a labor of love, as it is the product of 50 years of painstaking research. the reader can turn at random to any given page and be both entertained and enlightened! in addition to listing thousands of freethinkers, past and present, replete with anecdotes and quotes, the author provides useful information on various topics such as freethought, religion, philosophy, science and sexuality. this book clearly demonstrates the enormous contribution freethinkers of all stripes have made to humanity throughout the ages! it belongs on the bookshelf of every literate person in america!

Warren Allen Smith's "Who's Who in Hell" is an incredible work that is sure to please the most jaded agnostic or "get God off the currency" atheist. An astonishing compendium of many years of research and personal experience, Smith has produced a classic that should be placed in every reference section of every library. You can't help but be fascinated by the exhaustive list of entries and the poignant writing style. Many priests, pastors, ministers, shaman and popes will be hiding in the closet with this book.

This book should be in every reference library, private and public, as it is a useful compendium of free thinkers past and present and organizations that support them. Information on groups includes addresses and phone numbers. It also makes fascinating browsing. Celebrities and politicians past and prresent are here. George Washington and Abe Lincoln qualify. Do you? The compiler of Who's Who in Hell may be rushing things a bit as many of the listed individuals are still very much alive but I am sure the title is tongue in cheek.

FREE INQUIRY reviewed the book negatively in an unsigned critique that purposely contained falsities. The Council for Secular Humanism's officials need to out the culprit or culprits, for the magazine now strikes me as a commercial adjunct of Prometheus Books. Otherwise, it will lose to THE HUMANIST, which for some reason has not reviewed the book. International humanist groups have far more maturity about such matters.

WHO'S WHO IN HELL uses an umbrella approach, listing from A to Z subjects of particular interest to freethinkers and including an incredible list of over 10,000 actual people from Ancient Greece to Erasmus to Voltaire to Tom Paine to the present--Christopher Reeve, Kate Hepburn, Bjork, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., etc. Freethinkers, in short, come off as being far more important than publish-or-perish professors of philosophy when it comes to influencing the media and people around the world. I put this 6-pound, 1,200+page book next to my COLUMBIA ENCYCLOPEDIA.

FREE INQUIRY reviewed the book negatively in an unsigned critique that purposely contained falsities. The Council for Secular Humanism's officials need to out the culprit or culprits, for the magazine now strikes me as a commercial adjunct of Prometheus Books. Otherwise, it will lose to THE HUMANIST, which for some reason has not reviewed the book. International humanist groups have far more maturity about such matters.

WHO'S WHO IN HELL uses an umbrella approach, listing from A to Z subjects of particular interest to freethinkers and including an incredible list of over 10,000 actual people from Ancient Greece to Erasmus to Voltaire to Tom Paine to the present--Christopher Reeve, Kate Hepburn, Bjork, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., etc. Freethinkers, in short, come off as being far more important than publish-or-perish professors of philosophy when it comes to influencing the media and people around the world. I put this 6-pound, 1,200+page book next to my COLUMBIA ENCYCLOPEDIA.

The handbook is an A to Z listing of over 10,000 freethinkers, named and described in a brief biography (often with e-mail address or other documentation). It includes Prometheus and Democritus, Englightenment figures such as Diderot and Voltaire, transcendentalists, agnostics, atheists, Unitarians as well as unitarians, and right up to the secular humanists and rationalists. What an assemblage!

This is a thick heavy book, good enough to knock some sense into a Right Winger, Jesus Freak Ignoramus. If you ever get tired hearing some blubber mouth go on about how this country was founded on religious freedom and how our founding fathers were God Fearing Christians, just flip the pages on this book and you will find a roster of names like Lincoln, Madison, Washington and Jefferson. It pays to do a little research. I highly recommend this book as a valuable reference. It is full of names from recorded history and from every corner of the globe. It is impressive and fascinating to thumb through it. And you can not help but be awed by how some of these people can be honest and truthful about their own mortality but also can not deny their own keen intelligence.