Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Atheist: Madalyn Murray O'Hair

The Atheist: Madalyn Murray O'Hair

Beau, Bryan F. Le

Hardcover

Biographies GeneralPolitical Biographies20th Century United States History

ISBN10: 0814751717
ISBN13: 9780814751718
Publisher: New York Univ Pr
Published: Jan 15 2003
Pages: 387
Weight: 1.48
Height: 1.25 Width: 6.35 Depth: 9.27
Language: English

The first biography of the colorful life Madalyn Murray O'Hair--America's most famous (and despised) atheist

In 1964, Life magazine called Madalyn Murray O'Hair the most hated woman in America. Another critic described her as rude, impertinent, blasphemous, a destroyer not only of beliefs but of esteemed values.

In this first full-length biography, Bryan F. Le Beau offers a penetrating assessment of O'Hair's beliefs and actions and a probing discussion of how she came to represent both what Americans hated in their enemies and feared in themselves. Born in 1919, O'Hair was a divorced mother of two children born out of wedlock. She launched a crusade against God, often using foul language as she became adept at shocking people and making effective use of the media in delivering her message. She first gained notoriety as one of the primary litigants in the 1963 case Murray v. Curlett which led the Supreme Court to ban school prayer. The decision stunned a nation engaged in fighting godless Communism and made O'Hair America's most famous--and most despised--atheist.

O'Hair led a colorful life, facing assault charges and extradition from Mexico, as well as the defection of her son William, who as an adult denounced her. She later served as Hustler publisher Larry Flynt's chief speech writer in his bid for President of the United States.

Drawing on original research, O'Hair's diaries, and interviews, Le Beau traces her development from a child of the Depression to the dictatorial, abrasive woman who founded the American Atheists, wrote books denouncing religion, and challenged the words Under God in the Pledge of Allegiance, In God We Trust on American currency, the tax exempt status of religious organizations, and other activities she saw as violating the separation of church and state.

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