The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast — Volume 01

He was expelled from college for printing an obscene poem. He feuded with churches, politicians, and anyone who dared call themselves respectable. William Cowper Brann wrote like a man with nothing to lose and everything to say, and in 1899, his enemies returned the favor by putting a bullet in his back. This first volume gathers the essays and articles that made Brann notorious in the turbulent 1890s. Here he dissects Victorian morality with a blade sharper than any scalpel, retells biblical stories with a drunk pastor's candor, and turns personal anecdotes into ammunition against the sacred cows of his age. His prose crackles with genuine fury, but it's his wit that cuts deepest. Whether dismantling religious hypocrisy or parsing the nature of love, Brann refuses to perform the deference his era demanded.