5/24/2023 0 Comments Freethinkers susan jacobyAs a result, people were real connoisseurs of the craft, and a wide range of listeners thought Ingersoll was an extraordinary orator. In 19th-century America, speeches were a major form of entertainment. The first reason for his obscurity is the same reason many actors who were well known before the age of film have been forgotten: Ingersoll’s greatest fame came from his public speeches, and while the texts of these have been published, it was his performance of them that made him so beloved. A case in point is the orator Robert Green Ingersoll: a celebrity in his heyday at the end of the 19th century, he is almost utterly unknown today, even by those who would admire him if they knew more. Susan Jacoby, whose previous books include “Freethinkers” and “The Age of American Unreason,” begins “The Great Agnostic” by asking why some people famous in their own time become part of our national memory and others fade into oblivion.
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