A very informal survey of my friends and acquaintances indicated that most of them would prefer to live next-door t a registered sex-offender, child molester or islamo- terrorist than an avowed atheist.

As ATHEISTS, we are socially and politically ostracized. We have no protection under any federal or local anti-discrimination laws, no right to tax-exemptions, no recognizable identity or symbol of unity.

We exist as a bunch of splinter groups, with different motives, agendas and targets.
We rant, rave, argue, debate, discuss, beg, plead and cajole to be heard in a society which views us little better than rats or termites, seeking to destroy their social and religious cultures.

Until we settle our own differences, unify under an identifiable banner, speak authoritatively with a strong and purposeful voice, and replace our rancor with reason, we will get nothing except scorn and go nowhere outside our own small circles.

ATHEISTS ARISE! WE HAVE OUR FERRDOM TO GAIN, AND NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE!

Lucretius makes Plato sound like a rambling fool.

To be fair, that's probably not a very difficult task. Even his contemporaries didn't think much of Socrates/Plato's intellectual prowess. (See Aristophanes' "Clouds", etc.)

I wouldn't say it's an introductory compendium or even an armamentarium. It's more of an atheist pride piece, and it does a good job. The book is laid out more or less chronologically and it picks and chooses lesser known writers, lesser known pieces by well known writers, and unique perspectives from people who were influenced by atheistic thought. Reading it from front to back gave me an enriched sense of the broad history and intellectual tradition of atheism.

Many of the selections were from authors that I've studied from grade school through college whose atheist writing was neatly avoided by the instructors. The classic example is Emma Goldman, who I've come across in a lit course, labour history course, even in a public speaking class. There would always be a focus on her anarchism, as irrelevant as that is to us today, but never a mention of her atheism. Same is true about Joseph Conrad, George Elliot and Mark Twain in high school. As for Conrad, I own a collection of his "complete works" but it did not include the commentary he wrote regarding The Shadow Line, which was included here. Even though it wasn't some blockbuster refutation of god, I was thrilled to read him declaring his atheism,

Yet another great piece was the one by Lucretius. Lucretius makes Plato sound like a rambling fool. It's a wonder to me why some of the best philosophy departments in the US only mention Socrates in their introductory courses as if that's the holy grave of ancient philosophy. Maybe Lucretius is too "modern" for an ancient philosophy course.