Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism

Susan Jacoby's monograph traces the development of American secularism from the revolutionary era through the early 21st century, examining how freethinkers have shaped debates about religion's role in public life despite their marginalization in conventional historical narratives. The work positions itself as both historical recovery and contemporary intervention, challenging what Jacoby identifies as a systematic erasure of secular voices from American cultural memory.

The study begins with the founding generation, arguing that figures like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson represented a robust freethinking tradition that subsequent historiography has minimized. Jacoby demonstrates how these early secularists drew on Enlightenment rationalism to advocate for strict church-state separation and to question religious orthodoxy. She traces this tradition through the 19th century, examining figures like Robert Ingersoll and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who connected freethought to broader reform movements including abolitionism and women's suffrage.

Jacoby's methodology combines intellectual biography with social history, analyzing both prominent freethinkers and grassroots secular movements. She examines how secularists built alternative institutions - from ethical societies to freethought newspapers - that challenged religious hegemony while promoting science, reason, and humanistic values. The work pays particular attention to how religious conservatives have consistently portrayed secularism as foreign to American values, despite its deep historical roots.

The monograph engages critically with prevailing narratives of American religious history, particularly those that present the United States as inherently Christian. Jacoby argues that this misrepresentation serves contemporary political purposes, enabling the religious right to claim historical precedent for positions that actually contradict founding principles. She documents how 20th century developments, especially the Cold War equation of atheism with communism, intensified the marginalization of secular voices.

The work's significance lies in its comprehensive challenge to what Jacoby terms "historical amnesia" regarding American secularism. By recovering a continuous tradition of freethought from Paine to contemporary humanists, she provides crucial context for understanding current church-state debates. The monograph serves as both scholarly corrective and political argument, demonstrating that secularism represents not an alien ideology but an indigenous American tradition. Jacoby's analysis reveals how struggles over religious establishment, science education, and civil liberties have consistently featured secular activists whose contributions conventional histories have obscured.