Evolution Without Darwin? America Without Lincoln? A Review of "The Unbelievers"

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"The Unbelievers: The Evolution of Modern Atheism" by S. J. Joshi (Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY, 2011), contains chapters on fourteen contributors to the evolution of atheism. The fourteen characters profiled are Thomas Henry Huxley, Leslie Stephen, John Stuart Mill, Friedrich Nietzsche, Mark Twain, Clarence Darrow, H.L. Mencken, H.P. Lovecraft, Bertrand Russell, Madalyn Murray O'Hare, Gore Vidal, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens.

On what basis did Joshi make these selections, omitting so many? No coherent explanation is offered. In fact, the author acknowledges an absence of objective criteria in his choices that span 150 years of dissent from orthodoxy. However, the introduction does contain this surprising statement: "I will confess that in some instances I have chosen some thinkers and rejected others chiefly because I do or do not share an intellectual sympathy with them."

That lame remark is Joshi's excuse for the stunning omission of Robert Green Ingersoll. This seems odd, given that he acknowledges that Ingersoll was "probably the most celebrated American freethinker of the 19th century." I suspect few free-thought scholars would list a few of those Joshi does include, particularly H.P. Lovecraft, Leslie Stephen and Thomas Henry Huxley. Little in the chapters about their lives and contributions to atheism give the impression that these three warrant inclusion on such a short list, nor does it seem appropriate to mix four living writers with those who lived in earlier times. The contemporary authors might better have been described in a single chapter. A possible explanation for including Lovecraft can be sensed from the author's Wikipedia page: "S. T. Joshi is an award-winning Indian American literary critic, novelist and a leading figure in the study of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other authors of weird and fantastic fiction." That must be it-he favored Lovecraft because he knew so much about him and maybe slighted others, particularly Ingersoll, owing to an inadequate appreciation of his astonishing career.

Joshi does admit that he "does not share an intellectual sympathy with him" (Ingersoll). Maybe he should have put that aside. Imagine a historian on American history omitting Lincoln due to not sharing something about Lincoln's intellectual contributions. This omission undermines the book's value. It's quite appalling, actually, and colors all else. The fact of the matter, in my view and I think most others familiar with Ingersoll's life and work would agree, is that the combined impact of the 14 described skeptics might very well be less consequential to America's progress against the harm of religion than that of greatest orator of the 19th century. (At the time of this writing, four of the 14 still live, though two-Gore and Hitchens, are barely hanging on.)

A few of the chapter profiles contain new and interesting information. And the slim introduction describing the history of atheism offers useful perspectives. A few of note include the following:

* It is rare to find any thinker of note since the 17th century "who does not harbor some doubts about many phases of religious orthodoxy."

* Repelled by centuries of religious warfare, dozens of philosophers in the 17th and 18th centuries made "fervent pleas for religious toleration-pleas that ultimately prevailed in the West."

* By the 19th century, tools brought to bear by a diverse array of thinkers to challenge religion included not merely "logical analysis, scientific discovery and careful scrutiny of religious texts but also...weapons of satire, mockery and ridicule."

* In the West, with the exception of America, "the battle is over-atheism has won" (i.e., over religion). The reason America remains firmly wedded and controlled by a religious mindset is the poor state of public education that "has created an unfortunate cleavage between the tiny band of intellectual elites and the vast mass of the ignorant and ill educated."

Readers unfamiliar with the 14 worthy figures might benefit from and enjoy this book.

However, anyone who knows anything about the impact of Colonel Ingersoll, orator extraordinaire and noted lawyer, political king-maker, champion of liberty and intellectual giant who left behind a prodigious library of profound eloquence, will be off-put in the extreme at his omission.

Publisher of the ARDELL WELLNESS REPORT (AWR) - a weekly electronic newsletter devoted to commentaries on current issues that affect personal and social well being from a quality of life perspective. The emphasis is on REAL wellness, which is also the topic of Don's latest book. Read about it here - https://www.createspace.com/3478226 - The "REAL" acronym reflects key issues embraced and advanced in Don's philosophy, namely, Reason, Exuberance, Athleticism and Liberty. Sample copy of Don's latest edition by request. If you like it, you can sign up - the price is right - free. Contact Don at awr.realwellness@gmail.com

Essential Reading for Every American

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Let's get the complaints out of the way up front: At a suggested retail price of $15.95 (Amazon = $12.44), and at 4-1/2 x 6-3/8 inches hardbound, this is not exactly the back-pocket carry-along that Wayne LaPierre intends it to be. I'd suggest a true softcover chapbook format and price, and perhaps even a low-cost ebook version to make sure the word gets out to everyone who needs to know the truth about the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. And that audience amounts to every citizen of the United States.

I am a middle-aged Caucasian male who has never owned a gun, hasn't fired one in ages, and who, until recently, lived in a suburb of Baltimore where our doors were only locked a handful of times in 23 years. My teenaged son and a friend were accosted at gunpoint several years back, and though nobody got physically hurt, he was pretty well traumatized. The teenaged - admitted - assailant got off, due to police incompetence, and having to face him in school was bad for my son.

Other than that, when I thought about guns at all, it was in the form of platitudes. There were too many of them; too much gun violence; too many domestic assaults; too much suicide; and an arms industry that was out of control. I saw "Columbine," and think Charlton Heston was a colossal jerk.

I say this as preamble to a glowing review of Wayne LaPierre's The Essential Second Amendment Guide. It is a little gem. It belongs on your bookshelf, and in your local public library.

The Guide is not about guns. It is about The US Constitution: how it reads; its history; its writers and interpreters. It is about the meaning of personal liberty, individual rights, and what is required to preserve them.

LaPierre has written a short, highly readable, and extensively sourced guide to the most controversial of the first ten amendments to our Constitution, also known as the Bill of Rights. The Second Amendment, guaranteeing our right to keep and bear arms, is subject to constant attack. Yet, "it is the one freedom that gives common men and women uncommon power to defend all freedoms."

Simply put, when guns are outlawed, only the government [and outlaws] will have guns. That's not freedom, and it is as intolerable today as it was in 1776. LaPierre, of the National Rifle Association, makes a very strong, well-supported case for our Second Amendment rights.

He has hit what he was aiming at in writing a book everyone should read and keep close at hand. Please buy an extra copy for your local library; read it; read the suggested readings; above all, read, discuss, and defend our Constitution.

In addition to reviewing books, Rick Ostrander writes about 21st Century homesteading on the Santa Fe Trail, and building resilient communities in post-Peak Oil America. You're invited to visit his new blog, http://taylorsprings.blogspot.com/.

Winds of War by Herman Wouk

World War II was the "Big War" with "Big" on the Players. Hitler's Germany was busy in Europe trying to control the rest of the continent with their military might and influence. Meanwhile in the Pacific region, Japan was plying its growing influence in that part of the world. They had witnessed the British expansion in China and Australia and US involvement in Hawaii and the Philippines. Since they had a superior air force and believed that they were in fact the superior race with a great military too, it should be their turn to control things.

The Henry family was involved in both theaters of war activity. The senior, Victor Henry was a Navy man who was privileged to have met American President Franklin D Roosevelt. FDR liked Victor opinion and is in several occasions, they have several special missions was sent. He was able to get a close up view of the thoughts and ideas of men like Hitler, Stalin and Churchill. Meanwhile, one son was a Navy pilot and his other son, Byron was a Navy Submariner who happened to be romantically linked and then married to a Jewish girl of Polish extraction. Conditions in Poland, Russia, Germany and even Italy were harsh for those of a Hebrew background. Hitler's quest for power and hatred for the Jewish race were unbelievable. Through the Byron's eyes, the truth is seen by the reader, yet not fully understood by the western world at that time.

The US tried to stay out of the Great War for a long time. They didn't believe the alleged atrocities rumored to be taking place in Europe. They supported Britain with a special ship loan program and thought this conflict would eventually be over and it was far away from US shores. France and Italy or the European continent and most were already under Hitler's control. America thought they were safe at that time. Everything changed is Dec 7, 1941 when Japan drew the US into the war by their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands is a. Most of the US western fleet of ships was in port there. Then later, Hitler declared war on America and we had no choice but to expand our involvement to Europe as well.

This historical fiction novel is very educational as well as an interesting story of this Navy family involved in all aspects of the terrible conflict. The US was unprepared for war at first but Americans worked together to built up and create the most powerful war machine the world has ever seen. Probably shouldn't have been used in the atomic bombs are those Japanese cities yet the war might have taken a lot longer and more lives may have been lost. No one will ever know for sure. In Europe, the Hitler's many mistakes eventually shut him down and then they took his own life rather than surrender. The biggest mistake was putting so many of his soldiers on the Russian border at a time when the US and British were invading the French shores and then pushing eastward. Their army was "tired and weakened while the US had a strong determined people and leadership.

I've often wondered what the world would be like had Hitler won and continued to spread his influence. Would we be speaking German today? The Japanese Would be in control of China and Korea? I'm glad it turned out the way it did. Let's just hope the history never repeats itself.

John Sprague is an American currently working in the mideast. He enjoys writing and working on his websites in his free time. He has a new site at http://www.marketingkindreds.com/His website has photos of the mideast and marketing articles that you may be interested in viewing. There are also website analysis tools and articles is a genealogy and DNA.

Hawaiian Missionaries - The People and the Stamps

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American missionaries began arriving in the Hawaiian Islands in 1820. A bestselling book from that time Memoirs of Henry Obookiah alarmed the missionaries and motivated them to leave New England and sail around Cape Horn on a mission to the Hawaiian Islands. Their pioneering effort was courageous and indeed a leap of faith.

The pioneer American Mission company was led by Reverend Hiram Bingham a graduate of Middlebury College and the Theological Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts. The missionaries were given a section of land on Oahu where they established a mission station. That land was called Ka wai a Ha'o (the water of Ha'o) in reference to the fresh water spring located there in which Chiefess Ha'o bathed. Next to the spring Reverend Bingham established the first church in Honolulu he called it Kawaiahao.

The Pioneer Company of missionaries initially set up three mission stations on the islands of Hawaii, Oahu and Kauai. Reverend Bingham directed the mission station expansion from the Honolulu mission station. From behind the Kawaihao church the business of the missionaries was conducted. Over the next twenty years nineteen mission stations were established at population centers in the Hawaiian Islands. As new missionaries arrived from America they would stay at the Honolulu mission station until they were assigned to one of the nineteen mission stations. Also at the Honolulu mission station a mission depository was built that served as a warehouse where shipments were received and provisions were sent to the remote stations.

One of the most challenging tasks the missionaries faced was learning the Hawaiian language. The language did not exist in a written form. They had to develop an alphabet that would capture all of the nuances of the Hawaiian language. Once that was done they began translating the Bible from the original Greek and Latin directly into the Hawaiian language.

The pioneer and subsequent mission companies arriving from New England brought with them printing presses and additional supplies for the mission stations and for the Mission Press. The first Mission Press building was constructed at the Honolulu mission station just few feet from the Mission Depository. Over the first twenty years of operation the Mission Press printed 113,017,173 Hawaiian language pages. All supplies for the Mission Press, the paper, the ink powders, (pigments, driers and extenders) were stored in the Mission Depository.

When the American Missionaries arrived no postal system existed. The Mission Depository received deliveries that included mail in addition to supplies. When mail was delivered mail that had been written by mission members was waiting to go out. Samuel N. Castle who operated the Mission Depository wrote in his Journal a Post Office Law that he would have the master of the ship read before he would entrust them with mission mail. Mr. Castle kept detailed records of mission correspondence, dates sent, to whom and on which ship the mail was carried. Of particular importance was mail that was sent to J.B. Moore the postmaster of San Francisco. Mr. Castle contacted Mr. Moore to establish a regular postal delivery between Honolulu and San Francisco. Those letters were sent in August and September of 1850.

In October of 1850 Henry M. Whitney was given postal responsibility for California. Mr. Whitney was the adult child of an American mission family. He had been sent back to America for education when he was a child. He learned the printing trade and returned to Hawaii to direct the government printing office in Honolulu. In November of 1850 Whitney hired William S. Emerson as his apprentice. The young men were both mission children, since their parents called each brother and sister they liked to call each other cousins. William was given added responsibility at the post office when Henry went to visit his sister Maria Pogue in March of 1851. The first postage stamps issued by the Kingdom of Hawaii were also issued in 1851, they have become known as the Hawaiian Missionaries.

In 1918 George Grinnell a Los Angeles school teacher said he was given some Hawaiian Missionary stamps by a man named Charles Shattuck. When Grinnell sold some of them a few years later they were seized by the United States Secret Service and were the subject of a superior court case. The court decided that the stamps Grinnell offered for sales were worthless pieces of paper.

Much has been learned since the trial. It was later learned the mother of Charles Shattuck and the mother of William Emerson were friends. They had written to each other. The Grinnell stamps are typographically different those stamps that are thought to be genuine. Also the cancellations are different that those that are thought to be genuine. The solution to the mystery lies in the journal of William Emerson where he recorded the dates and hours he worked for Whitney. Those work records which were found by Patrick Culhane a Shattuck descendant at the Mission Houses museum library in Honolulu. The cancellation dates that appear on the used Grinnell stamps do not show a year. The author believes that the dates were applied in January, February and March of 1851 when William had added responsibility at the post office. The work record of William Emerson corroborates this, eighty percent of the dates that show on the Grinnell stamps are dates that William Emerson was working at the post office.

Conclusion: The Grinnell Hawaiian Missionary stamps are Genuine.

They are a first printing created by William Emerson as part of his apprenticeship to Henry Whitney in the first quarter of 1851 when he had added responsibility at the post office. The existence of these in the hands of only one family suggests that William was testing out his design.

Anthony R. Kassel is a member of the Hawaiian Historical Society. This year he published a book on the Hawaiian Missionaries both the People and the Stamps.

To read more about this interesting topic and to purchase a copy of the book please visit the Hawaiian Missionaries website

Anthony R. Kassel is also a member of the American and Hawaiian Philatelic Societies he has turned his stamp collecting hobby into the web based business. Click this link to visit the Antonios-Philatelics website where you can view and purchase thousands of collectible postage stamps.

Say It Loud, By: Catherine Ellis and Stephen Drury Smith - Book Review

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The presentation is interesting whether or not you agree with the authors. The book discusses Malcolm X and his famous "By any means necessary" reference to dislodging racism. In my own experience, a more inclusive teaching of global history and culture would accomplish this aim. The current texts tend to be Eurocentric; however, this is changing ever so slowly with the inclusion of Latin America, Asia and select countries like South Africa.

Malcolm's famous pilgrimage to Mecca is cited. In addition, Malcolm X believed that the local residents should own, operate and control the economic entities within their neighborhood and sphere of influence. I agree. Residents should own and control the economic factors of production within their community.

There is an excellent discussion of Lorraine Hansberry. Her best known work, A Raisin in the Sun, was inspired by the family's legal battle against racially segregated housing laws in the Washington Park Subdivision of the South Side of Chicago. The chapter on Dr. Martin Luther King was excellent. In particular, he stated that "the Negro lives in the basement of the Great Society". There has been improvement in my lifetime. Specifically, African Americans have more representation at the very top of the United States Government. i.e. Presidency, Cabinet, Supreme Court, The Congress, Governorships etc.

On his death, nearly 100 cities exploded in random violence. Dr. King's Citizen Education Program emphasized literacy, consumer education and Planned Parenthood. Operation Breadbasket in Chicago resulted in 2200 new jobs and nearly $18MM in incremental yearly income. Dr. King sought to achieve "A Higher Synthesis" which will have integrated the best of theoretic Socialist systems and the Free Market.

Obviously, Socialism had negations in the form of too much government control, Gosplan under the old Soviet Union, unrealistic quotas and sporadic expropriations. The Free Markets have negations in the form of too much corporate greed, over-consumption of scarce resources, labor exploitation and insufficient coordination of government oversight. The latter part of the book discusses President Obama and his call to provide health care to the sick, jobs to the jobless and education to a broader segment of society and its children. I believe that the book succeeds in presenting a fair recitation of African American History through the prism of the famous people quoted and discussed at length.

Reviewed by: Dr. Joseph S. Maresca

http://www.pacificbookreview.com/

The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson

The White City is the name given to the world's Columbia Exposition that took place in Chicago. It was the 400th anniversary celebration of Columbus's of the discovery of the new world.

Coming after the Paris Exposition that produced the Eiffel Tower, Chicago and the American people desired to have something that would at least rival or do one better than the French. It was a tall order. They chose to build a city on the lake. Some of the best architects of New York, Boston and Chicago were called upon to help. There were buildings set up for many of the states and several foreign nations. The main structure was called the Manufacturers and Liberal Arts building. Its floor was thirty two acres in size. It was so massive that 140,000 could stand inside it at the dedication ceremony.

As for the challenge to the Eiffel Tower, At a steel engineer came up with a plan. They would build a giant wheel at Bethlehem Steel that would be the largest one piece casting ever. The axle and its fittings weighed 142,000 pounds. This was to be George Ferris's of the giant wheel. Daniel h. Burnham, the architect in charge of the fair was excited about the idea. Many people didn't believe Chicago could put on a show like Paris had. This Wheel that could hold 2000 people at a time might just do the trick.

Landscape architect Fred Olmstead, who had designed New York's Central Park and Greenway, was The chief designer in the Boston's for the fair and they called for the scenery, that would not be gaudy in any way but be pleasing to the eye. They didn't want a garden effect but overall the scenery, and they desired to have it ready by opening day is May 1, 1893.

Meanwhile there was a serial killer operating in and around the city of Chicago. The author goes back and forth between the exposition the progress and the work of The Devil in the White City. Chicago was a busy place and people went missing all the time.

The fair was plagued with such problems as labor disputes, wind damage, deaths and illnesses of those associated with its completion. Olmstead had to have others finish his work at the crucial time due to his sickness.

Politics was in style in the windy city during the high nineties. Union bosses were gaining importance but detectives weren't too numerous and crime was on the rise.

In honor of opening day, Francis Bellamy composed a pledge that the Bureau of Education decided to send to every school in the nation. This was the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag that we all remember and was used in classrooms everywhere. In that huge manufacturers ' Bldg., there was a band of 500 and a choir of 5,000. Still, the microphone was not yet invented. It was hard for everyone to hear the speakers on the podium.

The Ferris Wheel was a great hit and many new products were introduced at the fair. Western Electric's Alternating Current to Direct Current for use had outbid Edison's at the fair. It soon became the preferred electricity around the nation. Shredded Wheat was introduced there as Aunt Jemima was the firth in the products and Cracker Jacks. The first moving pictures were shown there is Edison's Kinetoscope.

The clever Chicago serial killer was eventually caught after they made a few fatal mistakes. Herman H Holmes had tortured and murdered about fifty unlucky souls. The deed was done in a house, known locally as the castle.

This is a story of Good and Evil living side by side. They were separate events that show the high nineties life and the actions of a madman "creating chaos at the turn of the century. Chicago was a busy place at that time and an interesting part of American history.

John Sprague is an American currently working in the Mideast. He enjoys writing and working on his websites in his free time. He has a new site at http://www.marketingkindreds.com/His website has photos of the Mideast and marketing articles that you may be interested in viewing. There are also website analysis tools and articles is a genealogy and DNA.

"Ladies of Liberty" Book Review

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Early American history is normally taught with an emphasis on the old aristocratic male white Anglo-Saxon protestants. "Ladies of Liberty" is an attempt to add diversity heralded leaders in American history by putting women in the spotlight in a biographical book about early American leaders. Cokie Roberts also has an interest in early American women's history because she likes emphasizing the personal lives of leaders.

Cokie Roberts failed to write a feminist book. Her book still fits neatly into a version of American history that puts aristocratic men in the spotlight. Her book emphasizes women impacting history in traditional female roles such as supporters to men, advisers to men, teachers, and nurturers of children. The great idealistic mavericks who do not have the privileged background do not receive enough credit in this book.

This version of early American history fails to be feminist or egalitarian, but at least Roberts does tell a version of history that highlights personal lives and ties historical events and politics to the personal lives of citizens. This politically incorrect book is still enlightening and entertaining because of its focus on personal lives of important figures.

This book is entertaining because Cokie Roberts knows how to choose the great stories. But Cokie Roberts is not a great storyteller. Roberts rambles through her stories in a stream of consciousness fashion. She drones through some stories and cuts other stories short abruptly. She normally switches topics too quickly. Her writing style is confusing.

Roberts does not offer much insight in her book. Her level of analysis is not for the most serious readers. This is a book that is more for entertainment than enlightenment on American history. "Ladies of LIberty" does not offer a unique perspective.

Roberts narrates history with the usual lack of criticism of corrupt leaders that one can expect from an American history book. This book glorifies corrupt American leaders.

The most entertaining aspect of this book is how there is a very human portrayal of leaders who are corrupt and insane. Adding women to American history shows a human side of the powerful men in their lives, even if those men are weird and lack moral compasses.

The other entertaining aspect of this book is the gossipy nature of the narrations. The book only includes the best gossip from prominent women's correspondence at that time. "Ladies of Liberty" only shares the gossip that is relevant to understanding its cast of characters.

"Ladies of Liberty" is not a book for everyone. It is a book for readers with long attention spans that also appreciate unserious reading. It is geared towards readers who prefer women's entertainment because of its gossipy and intimate stories about women. Readers who only have time for the most relevant and enlightening historical reading will be disappointed by "Ladies of Liberty." Readers with short attention spans will not have patience for reading through this entire book.