I initially rated this as a five-star book, when I read it, which was more than 15 years ago. I recently read a very thoughtful review by Michael D. Reynolds (December 6, 2013), that has made me rethink my position.

I have read a couple of histories of atheism recently, that begin by dismissing popular atheist works, especially by the so-called "Four Horsemen" of the New Atheists (Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens), and proceeding to tell a very narrow history of the subject. One focused on a highly selective number of philosophers A Short History of Atheism by Gavin Hyman); another complained about the lack of a discussion of theology (Website" rel="nofollow" target="_new">Is God a Moral Monster?, by Paul Copan. These two may be accurate as far as their chosen slice of the subject goes, but they ignore a vast number of issues, writings, and events outside of scope that I believe also influenced the development of unbelief. It is unclear to me that they understand much about atheism as it is experienced by atheists themselves; I am an atheist. I think that this may be another of those that are not so much inaccurate as too focused on small parts of the subject.

I will add this to my copious To Be Read list, and perhaps come back to rewrite this review.

I shall reread this ( )

It's unfortunate that the history of modern atheism and naturalism and its developments over time have been so understudied by historians. This book, however, is a great start to what I hope is a bright future for that area of historical study. Turner masterfully discusses the cultural, religious, philosophical, and economic factors that developed in America after (and often as a result of) the Enlightenment and which led directly to the "coming of age" of unbelief as a viable option in modern America. He also, importantly, reports on the reactions of Christians to these changing socioeconomic factors and how these reactions often led to further unbelief. Very importantly, for a topic like this, which is still developing historically even as historians begin to examine its roots, I put down this book unable, in spite of my best attempts, to decipher whether the author was a "believer" or an "unbeliever" -- a true testimony to good, impartial, unbiased, and thorough historical research. ( )