John Gray is the author of many critically acclaimed books, including Straw Dogs and Al Qaeda and What It Means to Be Modern. A regular contributor to The New York Review of Books, he is a professor of European thought at the London School of Economics.Gray's new book is Seven Types of Atheism.
At the Guardian he tagged five of the best books on atheism and faith, including:
Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon (1940) is the story of a communist who is swept up in the purges. Arrested andRead about another entry on the list.interrogated for crimes against the revolution he did not commit, he ends by confessing to them and being executed. The novel is a study in the ruthless logic of faith, which – whether transcendental or secular – demands human sacrifices as the price of salvation. Koestler renounced his own faith in communism in 1938, partly as the result of a mystical experience he had while awaiting execution after being captured by Francoist forces while working as a Comintern agent in Spain. He was freed in a prisoner swap, but his life has changed for ever.
Darkness at Noon is among Joseph Epstein's five best revolutionaries in novels, Christopher Hitchens' six best books, and Ernest Lefever's five best Cold War classics.
--Marshal Zeringue
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