Israel Zangwill

The Next Religion: a Play in Three Acts Israel Zangwill

Israel Zangwill (1864-1926) was a British-Jewish humorist and writer, perhaps best known for his play, The Melting Pot. When it which opened in Washington D. C. in 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt leaned over the edge of his box and shouted, "That's a great play, Mr. Zangwill, that's a great play." He is also know for his picaresque novel, The King of the Schnorrers, and The Big Bow Mystery -- the first locked room murder novel.. In The Next Religion, written in 1912, Zangwill attacked traditional religion and what he called the new religion--"the Revelation of Science" and "the God of Law" -- which he thought would become as ritualistic and dogmatic as the old.