Atheism in Britain

Until the nineteenth century, atheism was widely thought to be not just false but impossible or crazy. By the early twentieth century, however, all that had changed. Indeed, according to some of our most influential culture-heroes - for example, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud - it is religion that is pathological and it is atheism that distinguishes our culture from those of the past. Yet despite the importance of atheism (for unbelievers and believers), its history has not been the object of much scholarly study.

While Britain has one of the richest atheistic histories in Europe, much of it is inaccessible. Thus many of the crucial texts are little known - such as the first avowed work of atheism in Britain, An Answer to Priestley (1782). Similarly, one of the most vigorous atheistic works, An Investigation of the Essence of the Deity (1797), is exceptionally rare.

This collection makes these and other key works available. Spanning the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries - arguably the most important period of British atheism - the collection includes central works by militant and avowed atheists such as Charles Bradlaugh, as well as crypto- and unvowed atheists such as Anthony Collins. The collection features introductions by David Berman, author of A History of Atheism in Britain (1988) which has become the definitive text on the subject.

The collection features a comprehensive general introduction and bibliographical introductions to each volume by David Berman.