From its founding in 1980, Free Inquiry magazine has been "on the barricades" in America's great civil struggle between the forces of tolerance, reason, and humanism, and those of religious dogmatism. This ethical and political struggle helped define the decade as much as any government policy or social movement.

Led by Paul Kurtz, America's forthright, unapologetic defender of secular humanism, Free Inquiry enlisted a powerful and eloquent band of contributors to affirm freedoms of thought and self-determination. On the Barricades collects Free Inquiry's very best articles under one cover.