Biography Robert G. Ingersoll
the known image of ingersoll addressing audience.
ingersoll noted orator, 1 of popular of age, when oratory public entertainment. spoke on every subject, shakespeare reconstruction, popular subjects agnosticism , sanctity , refuge of family. committed speeches memory although more 3 hours long. audiences said never restless.
many of ingersoll s speeches advocated freethought , humanism, , ridiculed religious belief. press attacked him, neither opinions nor negative press stop increasing popularity. during ingersoll s greatest fame, audiences pay $1 or more hear him speak, giant sum time.
in lecture entitled great infidels , attacked christian doctrine of hell: meanness, revenge, selfishness, cruelty, hatred, infamy of heart of man capable, grew blossomed, , bore fruit in 1 word—- hell.
susan jacoby credits ingersoll revival of thomas paine s reputation in american intellectual history, had decreased after publication of age of reason published during 1794-95. paine postulated men, not god, had written bible, , ingersoll included work in lectures on freethinking. freethinker of time wide audience outside of unbelieving circle, reintroduced paine s ideas new generation.
ingersoll died congestive heart failure @ age of 65. after death, brother-in-law, clinton p. farrell, collected copies of ingersoll’s speeches publication. 12-volume dresden editions kept interest in ingersoll s ideas alive , preserved speeches future generations. ingersoll s ashes interred in arlington national cemetery.
during 2005, popular edition of ingersoll s work published steerforth press. edited pulitzer prize-winning music critic tim page, s god got it: robert ingersoll on free speech, honest talk , separation of church , state brought ingersoll s thinking new audience.
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