The Evolution of Atheism: The Politics of a Modern Movement

Stephen LeDrew's The Evolution of Atheism, The Politics of a Modern Movement is a scholarly study published by Oxford University Press, examining the New Atheism movement of the 2000s as a social and political phenomenon rather than purely a philosophical position. Its authority rests on standard academic peer review at a major university press and LeDrew's background in sociology, which lets the book situate New Atheism's rhetoric and organizing within secular movement history rather than treating it in isolation. Its strength is placing recent secular activism in that longer historical and political context, including the internal critiques the movement has drawn from other secularists. Its limit is that it is one sociological reading of a contested and still recent movement, so its specific characterizations of any one figure or organization are worth checking against that figure's or organization's own stated positions.