New Book: "Do Not Misunderstand Me": The Collected Radical Addresses to the Unity Congregation (1888-1891) by Hugh O. Pentecost
These politically and socially radical addresses were originally given to Pentecost’s Unity Congregation, which he started in 1887 after breaking with mainstream Christian denominations. The texts of the addresses were subsequently published in Pentecost’s journal, Twentieth Century, and are collected here for the first time. They concern social justice issues which are as pertinent today as they were in Pentecost’s time: poverty, income inequality, the death penalty, education, child labor, women’s rights, and more. These addresses stand as important artifacts expressing the philosophies behind many of the radical reform movements of the late 19th-century, while still holding meaning for our current time. An introductory essay and extensive footnotes from editor Robert P. Helms add important context for these addresses.
Hugh Owen Pentecost (1848-1907) was an American minister, lawyer, and publisher. He espoused the single-tax theories of economist and social reformer Henry George, and was associated with socialist and anarchist political philosophies. While little known today, Pentecost was a well-known and controversial figure during his lifetime.
Robert P. Helms, editor, is an independent historian based in Philadelphia. He has previously edited and annotated the memoirs of Philadelphia anarchist Chaim Weinberg (Forty Years in the Struggle; Litwin Books, 2009) and edited Guinea Pig Zero: An Anthology of the Journal for Human Research Subjects (Garrett County Press, 2005). He also edits the Guinea Pig Zero and Dead Anarchists websites.
“A treasure-trove of insightful commentaries that remain as relevant today as they were in Gilded Age America. The former Baptist minister Pentecost welded his uncompromising rationalism into an original, revolutionary, anti-capitalist, anarchistic, and antiracist ‘gospel of social revolution’ that continues to resonate in the twenty-first century.”
Kenyon Zimmer, author of Immigrants Against the State: Yiddish and Italian Anarchism in America
Details:
“Do Not Misunderstand Me”: The Collected Radical Addresses to the Unity Congregation (1888-1891)
Price: $45.00 (pbk.)
ISBN: 9781642510560
7X10; 833 p.
Publication date: August 27, 2024
https://www.frayededgepress.com/pentecost-addresses.html
A Sketch of Pentecost’s life is at https://www.deadanarchists.org/pentecost-bio-sketch.html