From Library Journal
This comprehensive work covers the philosophy, history, and biography of the various branches of unbelief from skepticism to atheism. Stein, who edits the American Rationalist, has compiled an excellent series of articles by more than 100 authorities. All articles are well written, signed, and include short bibliographies. The cross-referencing is quite good. Along with thorough coverage of such expected subjects as ``Existentialism and Unbelief,'' there are some novel additions such as one on ``Conjuring and Unbelief in the Supernatural.'' The five appendixes include one on ``Periodicals of Unbelief,'' which lists nearly 500 periodicals and newspapers on the subject. There is no comparable work, so academic and public libraries will wish to consider this for their reference collections. Recommended. C. Robert Nixon, M.L.S., West Lafayette, Ind.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Kurzbeschreibung
This is a reference work unlike any that exists today. It provides a complete and detailed survey of the varieties of agnosticism, atheism, free-thought, humanism, scepticism, and unbelief, as they have appeared historically and on the contemporary scene. Editor Gordon Stein has collected comprehensive biographies of the many prominent men and women associated with free-thought including Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant in England, Voltaire and Diderot in France, V I Lenin in the Soviet Union, Thomas Paine, Clarence Darrow, and Robert Ingersoll here in the United States. The "Encyclopedia" brings together 203 articles from all the influential philosophers and psychologists whose thoughts and writings contributed to the growth of religious scepticism and unbelief including: Giordano Bruno; Spinoza; Locke; Hume; Kant; Comte; Spencer; Haeckel; Feuerbach; Dewey; Santayana; Freud; Reich; Russell; Sartre; Ayer; Hook; and, many others. Stein also contributes a history of organised free-thought, fully discussing political movements and theories that have had a direct bearing on unbelief. He has added perceptive essays on unbelief within the world's important religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Taoism. This invaluable reference work is cross-referenced and indexed and contains five comprehensive appendices for Meetings, Organisations, Publishers, Periodicals and a Bibliography of Unbelief. The many contributors include: Isaac Asimov; Hazel Barnes; Germaine Bree; Paul Edwards; Antony Flew; Paul Kurtz; Richard Martin; Martin Marty; Kai Neilsen; James Randi; and, many others.
