D.M. Bennett: The Truth Seeker The biography of the founder of The Truth Seeker DEROBIGNE MORTIMER BENNETT (1818-1882) was nine- teenth-century America’s most controversial publisher and free-speech martyr. Bennett founded the New York free- thought periodical The Truth Seeker in 1873; his publications were censored and prohibited from newsstands long before the expression “banned in Boston” was heard. Bennett’s opposition to dogmatic religion and puritanical obscenity laws infuriated Anthony Comstock, the U.S. Post Offi ce’s “special agent” and self-proclaimed “weeder in God’s gar- den.” Based on original sources and extensively researched, this in-depth yet accessible biography of D.M. Bennett offers a fascinating glimpse into the secular movement during the Gilded Age. Roderick Bradford follows Bennett’s evolution from a devout Shaker to an unremitting skeptic and Ameri- ca’s most iconoclastic publisher. He chronicles the circum- stances that led to Bennett’s historically signifi cant New York City obscenity trial, his imprisonment in the Albany Penitentiary, and the monumental petition campaign for a pardon that went all the way to the White House. Bradford examines Bennett’s prominent role in the National Liber- al League and his association with leading suffragists, spir- itualists, birth-control advocates, and the founders of the Theosophical Society in India. “Roderick Bradford reintroduces a significant nineteenth-century reformer whom mainstream historians have unfairly neglected. D.M. Bennett was the most influential liberal publisher during America’s Golden Age of Freethought. Even more important, through his dogged opposition to morals campaigner Anthony Comstock—and the high price he even- tually paid for it—Bennett mounted a heroic defense of freedom of expression, in the process helping to shape twenti- eth-century free speech standards in ways that few appreciate today. Displaying a masterful command of the historical material, Bradford deftly rescues the memory of D.M. Bennett, truly an American none of us should forget.” — TOM FLYNN, Editor, Free Inquiry magazine and The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief Executive Producer, American Freethought D.M. Bennett: The Truth Seeker. Hardcover, 412 pages. ISBN: 1-59102-430-7. $30.00 (Signed by author upon request.) ST Send check or money order to The Truth Seeker, 141 ANNIVERSARY ISSUE P.O. Box 178213, San Diego, CA. 92177. September 2014 American Freethought Documentary Series First printing limited to 141 copies Copy # _______ of 141 AVAILABLE ON DVD AND BLU-RAY Rod Bradford’s film on the development of the American Freethought movement, and Thomas Paine’s seminal role, is a comprehensive, accurate, and illuminating THE WORLD’S OLDEST FREETHOUGHT PUBLICATION SINCE 1873 s the editor-publisher, our founder work, masterfully told. It tells a story long D.M. Bennett routinely expressed overlooked, especially in academia, and Ahis beliefs and opinions in print. DEAR READER, Near the end of his life, however, crit- the public is served well in bringing D.M. Bennett’s “little sheet” has been around for 141 years; an amazing achievement when you consider our ics and some readers were still questioning founder’s modest goal. “The Truth Seeker,” Bennett wrote in 1873, America’s“is in for a complete year’s campaign, history andto life. we hope the his mission. Prior to his death on Decem- contents intercourse with our readers may continue many years; and we ask the friends of truth, light and— mental GARY liberty BERTON to ber 6, 1882, Bennett reluctantly articulat- give us their aid, both by contributing to our columns and in helpingTHOMAS us to getPAINE up Na ATIONALgenerous H ISTORICALlist of subscribers.” ASSOCIATION FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING DURING THE GILDED AGE 4 ed his philosophy in the Truth Seeker: The Truth Seeker—despite the unjust imprisonment of D.M. Bennett for mailing “obscenity”—isWWW.THOMASPAINE still alive, thanks.ORG American Freethought lm series segment “It is to oppose the errors of supernat- toThe the American generosity Freethought of James film Hervey series Johnson is vital to and democracy the dedication and contemporary of courageous issues. Understandingeditors and writers the American whom we will Roderick Bradford uralism, the tyranny of priestcraft, and continueFreethought to movementrevere. The is Truthneeded Seeker now’s more radical, than yet ever. rational voice is as relevant today as it was in 1873. The Truth Seeker the absurdities of the current systemANTHONY of COMSTOCK 10 periodical and website will focus on—P issuesETER P HILLIPSfacing PfreethinkersH.D. PRESIDENT and M educateEDIA FREEDOM those FwhoOUNDATION /PROJECT CENSORED. Excerpt, From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: religion. We honestly believe Christianity desire to learn more about the history of the movement which has been reported in WWW.PROJECTCENSORED.ORG A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America to be false, to be the greatest sham in the theAmerican Truth SeekerFreethought since itsopened founding. my eyes On to aour whole website, history American I didn’t know. Freethought It’s like fi anlm encyclopedia clips for free thinkers. It should Christopher M. Finan world, without truth in its history, without chroniclebe required the viewing Christian-sponsored for every American censorship citizen. crusades and the courageous free- —RANDI STEELE, WOODSTOCK 104-FM RADIO loveliness in its doctrines, without benefiRELIGION t HAS DONE LITTLE TO PREVENT WAR, FAMINE, CRIME, 16 thinkers who—since the founding of our nation—fought for free speech and sep- OPPRESSION, MISERY, AND UNHAPPINESS This is great work, scholarly, fascinating, compelling, and yet with a calm respectful tone. I hope you find a way to push it to the human race, and without anything aration of state and church. After learning more about the Golden Age of Free- James Hervey Johnson out to a broad audience. to sustain it in the hold it has upon the thought—unbelievers who are undecided on whether to call—F themselvesREDERIC C. atheist, RICH, A UTHOR, CHRISTIAN NATION: A NOVEL world. We are in favor of advocatingTHE the THOMAS PAINE NATIONAL HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION: 18 agnostic, rationalist, secular humanist, or skeptic—might favor freethinker. truths of nature, we are glad to aid inFreethought, dis- Anarchism, and the Struggle for Free Speech, Part I The Truth Seeker will strive to adhere to the principles of our founder D.M. Gary Berton The four-hour American Freethought fi lm series on secularism and censorship is produced by Roderick Bradford seminating the teachings of science. We Bennettin asso andciation will keepwith thein mind Council Robert for Secular Ingersoll’s Humanism. sage advice Tom on Flynn, publishing Executive a free- Producer. Funding provided by the are in favor of extending and enlargingTHERE the SEEMS TO BE A PATTERN 24 James Hervey Johnson Charitable Educational Trust and the Center for Inquiry. thought paper: “Above all, it should be perfectly kind and candid. In discussion Lenny Bruce’s Fight for Free Speech Running time 223 minutes. DVD and Blu-Ray. Visit www.AmericanFreethought.TV to watch a teaser, trailer, and rights of oppressed men and women. We there is no place for hatred, no opportunity for slander. A personality is always out Paul Krassner previews. Price $39.99 and $49.99 for Blu-Ray. Free shipping. Send check or money order to are in favor, so far as possible, of an even of place. An angry man can neither reason himself, nor perceive the reason of what an- The Truth Seeker, P.O. Box 178213, San Diego, CA. 92177. distribution of the wealth of the world.THE We CASTLE ON THE HILL 26 other says. Above all, and over all,” Ingersoll concluded, “a Liberal paper should teach the are opposed to a few holding immenseExcerpt, D.M. Bennett: The Truth Seeker absolute freedom of the mind, the utter independence of the individual, the perfect liberty of speech. We should fortunes which they never earned, whileRoderick Bradford remember that the world is as it must be; that the present is the necessary offspring of the past; that the future must millions are suffering for the commonestTHE LAST WORD 31 be what the present makes it, and that the real work of the reformer, of the philanthropist, is to change the condi- necessities of life. We are opposed toD.M. the Bennett tions of the present, to the end that the future may be better.” oppressions of capital and monopoly. We —RODERICK BRADFORD A LOOK BACK A CENTURY AGO 9, 14, 15 are in favor of all men acquiring a comfortable competence in life, and opposed to one man seizing and holding that which belongs to millions, and isCARTOONS indispensable FROM THEfor theirTRUTH comfort. SEEKER We shall not deny to 22,others 23 the right to circulate erotic literature if they think that is the highest; but we shall not engage in it ourselves nor advocate it. We Publisher and Editor Roderick Bradford Creative Director and Designer Francesca M. Smith trust we have now defi ned our position so fully that we shall not again be called upon to ‘rise and explain.’” THE TRUTH SEEKER P.O. Box 178213 | San Diego, California 92177 Visit our website www.thetruthseeker.net The Truth Seeker publication and TheTruthSeeker.net website are funded by the James Hervey Johnson Charitable Educational Trust Copyright ©2014 Roderick Bradford | 302 | | THETRUTHSEEKER.net THETRUTHSEEKER.net September September 2014 2014 | 31| 3 || gene reported, adding, “We never more fully realized the apublishing bitingly hostile power—the attack Tracton his Society’s and his mentor’spublishers. enemies: We start out with Fanny was a seasoned entrepreneur who had greatness of the man than at this interview, although it “Weskyscraper do not constructed envy the church in 1894—over- the enemy sheWright is making. in the Cru- early 19th century. It was made and lost several small fortunes.