Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Given the paucity of information about Palmer and his limited literary output, it wouldn’t seem at first glance that he was a very promising subject for a full-length biography. Fischer, however, does a masterful job of filling out the book by carefully contextualizing Palmer’s life and work in his era...Using the life of Elihu Palmer as its entrée, Kirsten Fischer’s
American Freethinker serves as an admirable introduction to the history of Enlightenment-inspired radical religion in the United States" * Nova Religio *
"[E]xciting...absorbing [and] crisply written...Elihu Palmer (1764–1806), when remembered at all, is often sidelined as a firebrand or crank. This book reintroduces him as a charismatic, resilient go-getter whose vitalist cosmology reveals the unexpected philosophical variety within early American nonreligion...American Freethinker energizes the study of early American nonreligion by detailing the life and views of a significant Deist who, properly understood, upends the common misconception that Deists uniformly believed in a watchmaker God." * Early American Literature *
"
American Freethinker is the first full-length study of Palmer—a long overdue treatment of this intriguing figure." * Church History *
"
American Freethinker is a masterful account of a fascinating but understudied figure. Kirsten Fischer has uncovered a trove of new information about Elihu Palmer and has written a definitive biography that will be of interest to specialists, students, and general readers interested in the religious, cultural, or political history of the early republic." * Seth Cotlar, author of
Tom Paine's America: The Rise and Fall of Trans-Atlantic Radicalism in the Early Republic *
"With crystalline prose, Kirsten Fischer rescues Elihu Palmer from obscurity and, more importantly, sets his ideas against the broad religious and intellectual contexts of the early United States. Her investigation extends beyond one iconoclastic freethinker to show the vibrancy of the period's intellectual climate and the dynamism of freethought. This is a book of enduring significance." * Erik R. Seeman, author of
Speaking with the Dead in Early America *
Table of ContentsPrologue. "A Religious Tornado"
Part I. Expansive Christianity
Chapter 1. Steady Habits Upended
Chapter 2. A Liberal Education
Chapter 3. "All is Alive"
Chapter 4. Freelance Universalist
Part II. The Making of an "Infidel"
Chapter 5. Palmer's Rubicon
Chapter 6. Hard Fate
Chapter 7. Fellowship
Chapter 8. Sensitive Atoms
Part III. Lightning Rod
Chapter 9. Specter of Infidelity
Chapter 10. Controversy Among Freethinkers
Chapter 11. Weaponizing Freethought
Chapter 12. The Best Kind of Revolution
Epilogue. Into the Future
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
