Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion

Front Cover
Basic Books, Jun 16, 2020 - Law - 352 pages
The Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the Scopes Trial and the battle over evolution and creation in America's schools

In the summer of 1925, the sleepy hamlet of Dayton, Tennessee, became the setting for one of the twentieth century's most contentious courtroom dramas, pitting William Jennings Bryan and the anti-Darwinists against a teacher named John Scopes, represented by Clarence Darrow and the ACLU, in a famous debate over science, religion, and their place in public education. That trial marked the start of a battle that continues to this day-in cities and states throughout the country.

Edward Larson's classic Summer for the Gods -- winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History -- is the single most authoritative account of this pivotal event. An afterword assesses the state of the battle between creationism and evolution, and points the way to how it might potentially be resolved.
 

Contents

Title Page
ONE Digging Up Controversy
TWO Government by the People
PART II
FIVE Jockeying for Position
PART III
EIGHT The End of an
NINE Retelling the Tale
Afterword to the 2020 Edition
Discover More
Notes
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2020)

Edward J. Larson is the author of twelve books, including The Return of George Washington and The Magnificent Catastrophe, and the recipient of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in History. He is the University Professor of History and holds the Darling Chair in Law at Pepperdine University.

Bibliographic information