Austin native ANN ROWE SEAMAN has turned a wealth of research into a morbidly fascinating biography of the world’s most famous atheist in AMERICA’S MOST HATED WOMAN: THE LIFE AND GRUESOME DEATH OF MADALYN MURRAY O’HAIR (Continuum). Seaman convincingly portrays the late O’Hair as part celebrity-craving nutcase and part tireless crusader for separation of church and state. O’Hair won a landmark case in the U.S. Supreme Court, but her personal life was in shambles, and she almost certainly directed millions of dollars in charitable donations to her own purse. And just when you think the story could not be more complex or bizarre, O’Hair disappears without a trace from her Austin headquarters. Seaman’s account proves that the truth is stranger . . . by a long shot.
