Susan Jacoby
Susan Jacoby | |
---|---|
Born | Okemos, Michigan, U.D. | June 4, 1945
Education | Michigan State University |
Occupation | author |
Notable work | Wild Justice, The Age of American Unreason, Alger Hiss and The Battle for History, Never Say Die: The Myth and Marketing of the New Old Age, Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism |
Awards | Guggenheim Fellowship, National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, and a fellowship from the New York Public Library's Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers |
Website | www |
Susan Jacoby (
Life and career
Jacoby, who began her career as a reporter for
Raised in a
Her book Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism was named a notable book of 2004 by The Washington Post and The New York Times.[5] It was also named an Outstanding International Book of the Year by The Times Literary Supplement (London) and The Guardian. Wild Justice: The Evolution of Revenge (1984) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.[2] Jacoby also won an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship [6] in 1974 to research and write about the new Americans: immigration into the U.S.
In The Age of American Unreason (2008) Jacoby contends that the
In February 2010 she was named to the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.[8] Also in 2010, she was awarded The Richard Dawkins Award by Atheist Alliance International.
Ideas
Jacoby has spoken about the important role
The idea that a secular government is, in fact, necessary for the existence of religious liberty, has also been defended by Susan Jacoby. She has suggested that the religiosity of the American people, as well as the proliferation of different religious denominations in the United States, are examples of situations that have occurred precisely thanks to the existence of a secular system.[9] Jacoby has said that the separation of church and state offered people the possibility to disagree with their church without having to oppose the established political order, which would have been impossible under a system where church and state were united.[9]
Jacoby has pointed out that the presence of some religious elements in the governmental scene of the United States is a matter of customs and not of laws, and that many of those elements are more recent than people tend to believe. She has cited as an example the
The influence of secularism in the
Susan Jacoby has also highlighted the link and similarities between secularism and feminism. She has noticed that both movements gain and lose strength throughout history and are constantly renewed or revived by later generations. She has used as an example the case of Thomas Paine, whose ideas were prominent in the 18th century but which were almost forgotten by later generations until the last quarter of the 19th century, when they were revived by Robert G. Ingersoll.[9]
According to Jacoby, secularism is also important in feminism because the latter implies dealing with "overturning ideas that very conservative religions, and many parts of the Bible, have proclaimed about women for thousands of years".[9]
Jacoby has argued that the idea of anti-Catholicism being "a significant force in American life today is a complete canard, perpetrated by theologically and politically right-wing Roman Catholics . . . and aimed at anyone who stands up to the Church's continuing attempts to impose its values on all Americans."[10]
Books
- Moscow Conversations (1972)
- The Friendship Barrier: Ten Russian Encounters (1972, British edition)
- Inside Soviet Schools (1974)
- The Possible She (1979)
- Wild Justice: The Evolution of Revenge (1983)
- Soul to Soul: A Black Russian American Family, 1865-1992 (with Yelena Khanga) (1994)
- Half-Jew: A Daughter's Search for Her Family's Buried Past (2000)
- Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism (2004)
- The Age of American Unreason, Pantheon (2008)
- Alger Hiss and the Battle for History (2009)
- Never Say Die (2011)[11]
- The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Freethought (2013)
- Strange Gods: A Secular History of Conversion (2016)
- Why Baseball Matters (2018)
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-312-45986-4.
- ^ PBS.org. May 14, 2004. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
- ^ Shapiro, James (August 13, 2000). "Too new to know". The New York Times. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
- ^ a b Leiter, Robert (August 8, 2000). "Unraveling the past: A journalist digs deep into her family's roots–and religious wounds". Jewish World Review.
- ^ "About the Author". SusanJacoby.com. Retrieved August 14, 2008.
- ^ Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship
- ^ a b c Gatehouse, Jonathan (May 15, 2014). "America dumbs down". Maclean's. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
- ^ "Honorary FFRF Board Announced". Archived from the original on December 17, 2010. Retrieved August 20, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Susan Jacoby - American Freethought Heritage". Point of Inquiry (Podcast). March 17, 2006. Retrieved August 27, 2014.
- ^ Jacoby, Susan (March 14, 2007). "Anti-Catholicism: A phony issue". On Faith. The Washington Post.
- ^ "'Never Say Die,' Susan Jacoby's tough look at the realities of aging". The Washington Post. February 6, 2011.
External links
- Official website
- Susan Jacoby article archives, The Washington Post
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Interview with Susan Jacoby by Stephen McKiernan, from Binghamton University Libraries Centre for the Study of the 1960s.