 | Doubt: A History: The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson by Jennifer Michael Hecht
Buy new: $11.55 / Used from: $7.20 Covers a very broad scope, from ancient China to McCarthyism. A very good reference source, not necessarily recommended as light reading.
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 | The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason by Charles Freeman
Buy new: $11.53 / Used from: $6.78 This books, surprisingly dense and ambitious, attempts to demonstrate the incompatibility of faith and reason.
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 | Why I Am Not A Christian And Other Essays On Religion And Related Subjects by Bertrand Russell
Buy new: $25.60 / Used from: $23.44 Some may find this offensive. Its goal, as should be clear from the title, is to tear apart the dominant form of religion in the US.
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 | The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth by Thomas Jefferson
Buy new: $4.95 / Used from: $2.00 Interesting in the histories of both the US an atheism. Thomas Jefferson created his own version of the Bible, in which he cut out all of the supernatural and rearranged what he found ridiculous. Definitely not what they teach in school! America's most famous doubter.
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 | His Dark Materials Trilogy: "Northern Lights", "Subtle Knife", "Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
Buy new: $24.38 / Used from: $13.20 This is the only work of fiction I am including on this list. The author, Phillip Pullman, said he intended for this book to be an atheist version of "Narnia," and he does an excellent job. Highly recommended.
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 | Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism by David Mills
Buy new: $10.17 / Used from: $7.95 Definitely worth a read! It's hard to remember, but America was founded by deists/atheists.
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 | The Origin Of Species: 150th Anniversary Edition by Charles Darwin
Buy new: $6.95 / Used from: $3.71 You ought to read this. It really does lie at the root of much of modern atheism. Of course, atheists did exist before Darwin, but he made it easier.
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 | The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever by Christopher Hitchens
Buy new: $9.79 / Used from: $7.00 Christopher Hitchens is probably the most famous atheist today, and you should definitely give him a read, but he's not the best on this list.
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 | The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
Buy new: $10.37 / Used from: $6.32 Another one of the most famous modern atheists; again, not my favorite, but for those looking for a comtemporary book, here you go.
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 | Letter to a Christian Nation (Vintage) by Sam Harris
Buy new: $7.92 / Used from: $5.99 Probably the most controversial of the three "modern atheists"--Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris. Frequent attacks on fundamentalism, especially Islam.
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