(Houghton Mifflin, Oct. 2006, 406pp, including 26pp of appendix, books cited, notes, and index)
Of the four books published in the mid-2000s by the so-called “new atheists,” this one by Richard Dawkins was the most blunt and least conciliatory; it was frank, straightforward, and matter of fact. It covers all the basics, such as the arguments for God’s existence and why they are weak or implausible, and the reasons why it’s very unlikely that any god exists; then looks at the history of religion, the source of morality, how the moral zeitgeist has changed over the millennia, and the problems with religion and religious belief.
