The Great Agnostic

It seems "Fighting Bob" Ingersoll is enjoying a bit of a resurgence.  As  I noted before, I was first drawn to Ingersoll in newspaper clippings that my Great Grandfather had kept.  Apparently he was a great fan of "Fighting Bob."  Seems Susan Jacoby is too, as she has written a short biography on The Great Agnostic, whose favorite target was religion.

Jennifer Michael Hecht noted in her review of the book that Ingersoll was most noted for his quips, which have survived down the years.  Apparently, it was this wry sense of humor that endeared him to so many followers during his time.  He also had his fair share  of detractors, past and present.  I noticed that David Barton took a swipe at Ingersoll in his book on Jefferson.

Jacoby tries to figure out what it was that made "Fighting Bob" an American original, and also why his voice of reason hasn't fared as well as others over time.  Mark Twain is a household name.  Robert Ingersoll is the  kind of guy who pops up in trivia games.

It seems you had to hear him speak to feel the full weight of his arguments, and sadly no voice recordings have survived.  We can only imagine what his printed speeches might have been like from anecdotes like the one Hecht provides of Eugene Debs buying a train ticket from Terre Haute to Cincinnati just so he could stay with Ingersoll a little while longer after having heard one of his famous speeches.