Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899), regarded as something of a secular saint and known as "the great agnostic", was for a long stretch during the 19th century one of the most famous men in America. An outspoken and unapologetic agnostic, fervent champion of the separation of church and state, and advocate of the rights of women and Black Americans, he drew enormous audiences in the late 19th century with his lectures on "freethought."

Tim Page is the Pulitzer Prize-winning chief music critic for the Washington Post. He is the author of Dawn Powell: A Biography and editor of The Diaries of Dawn Powell (Steerforth Press, 1995) and Selected Letters of Dawn Powell.