This is the first full-length biography of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, America's most determined, most notable, and perhaps most denounced Atheist.

In the first comprehensive biography of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, Bryan F. Le Beau explores the beliefs and actions of one of history's must prominent atheists. Le Beau traces O'Hair's development from a child of the Depression to the dictatorial, abrasive woman who founded the American Atheists, wrote a series of books denouncing religion, and challenged the words "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, "In God We Trust" on American currency, the tax exempt status of religious organizations, and a host of other behaviors she saw as violating the separation of church and state. Fast-paced, engagingly written, and sharply relevant to ongoing debates about school prayer and other religious issues, The Atheist tells the colorful life-story of a woman who challenged America's most deeply held beliefs.