Freethinkers Book Discussion

Chuck has graciously offered to lead a discussion of the Susan Jacoby book Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism. Please read his message below:

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This appears to be the most appropriate place to have our discussion on this book, so unless there are any objections, here's where we'll start.

First off, the ground rules

1. All people are welcome to post, but I would highly recommend you have already read the sections/chapters being discussed before posting.

2. Keep the ad homs out! Although I doubt this will apply in this discussion, if we ever get into discussing a more controversial book, it could be much more tempting to use them -- DON'T

3. Try not to start posting to the topic until the assigned date. Not everyone reads as fast as you do (or as slowly), so give everyone time to get through the material and come to their own assessments before plowing ahead.

4. Try and keep on-topic and in-step with the chapters/sections being discussed. You or I may have read further into the book and have some points to make about something 4 chapters on, but Brian might be a little slower, and it's not fair to him (sorry, Brian -- couldn't resist )

5. Have fun and learn from the books and from each other.

OK, now that the rules are out of the way, here's what I think should be the first reading section, and when everyone who participates should be prepared to discuss it:

Freethinkers by Susan Jacoby
Introduction pp 1-12
Chapter 1 pp 13-34
Chapter 2 pp 35-65

First discussion/exchange about it starting on Friday March 11.

If anyone thinks that is too much reading for the first go-around, let me know. I think having almost two weeks to go makes it doable, but I'm not always like everyone else.

After about a week of discussion, we'll move on to the rest of the chapters in order. Here's my proposed schedule (on a weekly basis every Friday):

Week 1 (Mar 11) -- pp 1-65 (see above)
pre-Revolutionary War to the signing of the Constitution

Week 2 (Mar 18) -- pp 66-123 (chapters 3 and 4)
early 19th century through the Civil War

Week 3 (Mar 25) -- pp 124-185 (chapters 5 and 6)
late 19th century

Week 4 (Apr 1) -- pp 186-267 (chapters 7 and Cool

early 20th century to 1930's

Week 5 (Apr Cool

-- pp 268-316 (chapters 9 and 10)
WWII to 1960's

Week 6 (Apr 15) -- pp 317-365 (chapters 11 and 12)
1970's to present

Week 7 (Apr 22) -- final discussions and overall assessments

This schedule breaks the book into manageable chunks, and also provides a somewhat logical breakout of the major timeperiods of American History.

Hope this works and we get some good discussions and learning out of it all!

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Chuck Lunney

"Never try to make something idiot-proof. Someone else has already made a better idiot."