"DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND ME"

The public remarks and writings of radical minister Hugh O. Pentecost take center stage in this anthology.

“Historians have not paid much attention” to the life of radical orator Pentecost, writes editor and independent historian Helms in an introduction. Although his name pops up in myriad late-19th-century reform movements—from socialism to the Georgist single tax movement—there have been few in-depth scholarly studies of the minister, lawyer, and popular orator. Helms convincingly argues that the Pentecost’s marginalization is, in part, because he’s an enigmatic figure whose passions and careers changed over time. For instance, although he’s most often associated with turn-of-the-century American anarchism, Pentecost “almost never accepted the word ‘anarchist’ to describe himself.” Beyond the book’s well-researched introductory essay on Pentecost’s life, legacy, and family tree, it is a fine compilation of more than 120 of his sermons, which put his radical positions and charismatic style on full display. “Murder by Law” (1889) for instance, critiques capital punishment, comparing state-sponsored executions to the atrocities “committed by Jack the Ripper,” as they represent the “worst possible kind of murder, because it is done with deliberation.” “Ballots, or Bullets?,” also from 1889, advocates for unrestrained pacifism, arguing that regardless of any positive outcomes that results from war, such as American independence from Britain, “It is better to suffer a thousand wrongs for a thousand years than to right them by war,” as violence represents “the primal outrage upon individual liberty and human brotherhood.” Helms, the current editor of website Dead Anarchists and previous editor of the annotated memoirs of Jewish anarchist Chaim Weinberg (Forty Years in the Struggle, 2009), draws on his deep knowledge of American anarchist movements to provide ample editorial footnotes that offer context to each of Pentecost’s sermons. At more than 800 pages, this is an imposing chronological compilation of material from a variety of sources; however, it lacks an index for readers interested in specific topics.

An impressive anthology of the works of an understudied American radical.