An impassioned argument for “a firm and dignified defense of the imperiled secularish virtues and moderation, toleration,...
Berlinerblau (Jewish Civilization/Georgetown Univ.; The Vow and the ‘Popular Religious Groups’ of Ancient Israel, 2009, etc.) offers a solid history of secularism in America and a defense of its virtues at a time when conservative Christians attack it as a moral evil and advance the “flawed” idea that one cannot be both religious and secular.
Arguing that the revival of religion in the United States since the 1970s has led to the ascent of the Christian Right and the crackup of secularism, the author cites examples of ways in which traditional boundaries have been breached, including the creation of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and frequent threats by elected officials to establish Christianity as the national religion. Berlinerblau calls for the strengthening of secularism to guarantee “both freedom of and freedom from religion in American life.” In tracing the roots of the American secular vision, the author points to the shared beliefs of Martin Luther, Roger Williams, John Locke, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Despite their differences, each warned about mixing religion and governmental power, celebrated religious freedom, emphasized the need for social order and argued that all religious groups must be equal in the eyes of the state. The author recounts secularism’s rise and broad public support from the 18th century through the mid-20th century, when separatism became the preferred secular policy of the U.S. Supreme Court. Responding to the “signature” secular decade of the 1960s, conservative Christians began an attack that has left secularism in a state of exhaustion. To ensure the future of secularism and its “virtues of moderation and tolerance,” millions more Americans must declare themselves secularists, including followers of liberal faiths and religious minorities.
An impassioned argument for “a firm and dignified defense of the imperiled secularish virtues and moderation, toleration, and self-criticism.”Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-547-47334-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
A measured account of the development of the Soviet bomb program by Holloway (Political Science/Stanford, The Soviet Union and the Arms Race, 1983) that contrives to be both technically comprehensive and gripping. Using interviews with some of the main protagonists, such as Kapitsa and Sakharov (though before they were able to talk fully), and access to those archives that have become available in Russia, Holloway clarifies a number of issues. He confirms that the Soviets were heavily dependent on espionage to provide both a sense of the seriousness with which the British (and later the Americans) were pursuing nuclear weapons, and guidelines to their methods. Still, the success of the Soviet Union in constructing such a weapon, in almost the same amount of time as the US, was a ``remarkable feat,'' given the devastation of the Soviet economy after the war. The Communist command-administrative system, Holloway notes, ``showed itself able to mobilize resources on a massive scale, and to channel them into a top priority project.'' It was, however, at immense cost both in terms of the hundreds of thousands of prisoners toiling in the uranium mines and elsewhere, the appalling health and safety record, and the damage to the environment. The building of the hydrogen bomb, by contrast, was largely and no less remarkably an indigenous Soviet achievement. Little credit seems due to Stalin, who was responsible for shooting many of the top physicists during the purges and who understood the significance of nuclear weapons only after the explosion at Alamogordo. Nor does Holloway think much of Stalin's postwar policies, which succeeded in unifying the West and causing it to rearm, though he concludes that Stalin's refusal to be browbeaten made the US more cautious about asserting its nuclear monopoly. What could have been a dry technical and analytical study is enlivened by the immensity of the issues at stake and the extraordinary characters populating the story.
Pub Date: Sept. 21, 1994
ISBN: 0-300-06056-4
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
A poignant, heartfelt account of caring for children dying of AIDS. McCarroll, known as Brother Toby, initially retraces some of what he covered in Morning-Glory Babies (1988) about the formation of the Starcross Community, a lay Benedictine monastery in Sonoma, Calif. The community has been alternately tolerated and rejected by the Catholic hierarchy, which is apparently leery of its New Age influences. The celibates, both male and female, found their calling in adopting unwanted children, most of whom are HIV- positive. They soon attracted national attention for their efforts. Most of this slim volume is devoted to relating the stories of two particular children who challenged and changed Brother Toby's life in special ways. Tina, whom the author calls his ``daughter,'' was born and brought to the monastery when the monk was 57, having already raised and lost children of his own. Continually weakened by the virus and hospitalized with AIDS-related infections, Tina died three years later. Before she did, however, she grew into a willful, loving toddler who had her adopted father wrapped around her little finger. The other story is that of Brother Toby's goddaughter, Dana Rica. She was Romanian, and much of the book recounts the community's struggles with that country's bureaucracy on behalf of Dana Rica and other afflicted children. The girl's visit to Starcross was a high point for Brother Toby. His life, like the book, is filled with little miracles—a father singing to his daughter; watching a child play, dance, or laugh—and a quiet faith that death does not have the last word. Even with the grim subject matter and all the pain, this is a triumphant story that never degenerates into banality. It is the account of a group of people determined to make a difference—and of those who made a difference to them.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-312-11253-X
Page Count: 112
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
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