Why secularism isn't the same thing as atheism—and why it's crucial for preserving liberty and democracy for all Americans, regardless of their beliefs.Founding father Thomas Jefferson believed that "religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God," but these days many people seem to have forgotten this ideal. Conservatives claim America is a "Christian nation" and urge that laws be structured around religious convictions. Hardcore atheists, meanwhile...

A Black-Jewish dialogue lifts a veil on these groups’ unspoken history, shedding light on the challenges and promises facing American democracy from its inception to the presentIn this uniquely structured conversational work, two scholars—one of African American politics and religion, and one of contemporary American Jewish culture—explore a mystery: Why aren't Blacks and Jews presently united in their efforts to combat white supremacy? As alt-right rhetoric become...

Did you hear the one about the comedian who was canceled?Comedians are no strangers to controversy or crossing the line. But some things do change. Humorists the world over are no longer simply denounced in grouchy op-eds. Now comedians are being hounded by criminal investigations and civil suits, or forced off the airwaves. They are menaced by vigilantes and religious fundamentalists. Some have been forced into exile, imprisoned, or even murdered. In the age of so...

As professors in the United States are being paid less and less to teach more and more undergraduates, prospective students need all the information they can get about receiving their tuition-dollars’ worth.About to choose a college? About to make an investment that might exceed a quarter-million dollars? Worried about “ideological indoctrination” on university campuses? Then you need to know a lot about professors. There has been, perhaps, no worse time t...

Secularism: The Basics is a concise and engaging introduction to confusing and contradictory public discussions of secularism across the globe.In this lively and lucid book, Jacques Berlinerblau addresses why secularism is defined in so many ways and why it so ignites people’s passions. In so doing, he explores the following important questions: What does secularism mean? Why should we care about this idea? What are the different types of secularism and what are their hist...

Let it be said, Philip Roth was never uncontroversial. From his first book, Roth scandalized literary society as he questioned Jewish identity and sexual politics in postwar America. Scrutiny and fierce rebukes of the renowned author, for everything from chauvinism to anti-Semitism, followed him his entire career. But the public discussions of race and gender and the role of personal history in fiction have deepened in the new millennium. In his latest book, Jacques Berlinerblau offers a c...

A powerful, thought-provoking and always lively examination of how American Christianity has badly lost its way—with most of what goes by the name of Christianity today being one or another type of heresy—by the youngest writer ever appointed as editorial columnist for The New York Times.In a world populated by “pray and grow rich” gospels and Christian cults of self-esteem, Ross Douthat argues that America’s problem isn’t too much religion; nor is it into...

A cultural history of the last forty years, The Age of American Unreasonfocuses on the convergence of social forces—usually treated as separate entities—that has created a perfect storm of anti-rationalism. These include the upsurge of religious fundamentalism, with more political power today than ever before; the failure of public education to create an informed citizenry; and the triumph of video over print culture. Sparing neither the right nor the left, Jacoby asserts ...

WITH A NEW AFTERWORDIn his controversial and critically acclaimed While Europe Slept, Bruce Bawer outlined the danger that Islamic immigration posed to traditional European values. In this provocative follow-up, he takes up the West’s recent trend of silence and appeasement in the face of cultural intimidation by radical Islam.From an examination of coverage of the shocking murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh to the widespread denunciation of the Danish editors...

An authoritative history of the vital role of secularist thinkers and activists in the United States, from a writer of "fierce intelligence and nimble, unfettered imagination" ( The New York Times)At a time when the separation of church and state is under attack as never before, Freethinkers offers a powerful defense of the secularist heritage that gave Americans the first government in the world founded not on the authority of religion but on the bedrock o...

* Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award* National Book Award Finalist* Time magazine Top 10 Nonfiction Book of the Year* New York Times Notable Book“We have long needed a fair-minded overview of this vitally important religious sensibility, and FitzGerald has now provided it” (The New York Times Book Review).Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Frances FitzGeral...

For eight years the president of the United States was a born-again Christian, backed by well-organized evangelicals who often seemed intent on erasing the church-state divide. In Europe, the increasing number of radicalized Muslims is creating widespread fear that Islam is undermining Western-style liberal democracy. And even in polytheistic Asia, the development of democracy has been hindered in some countries, particularly China, by a long history in which religion was tightly linked to...