Summer for the Gods, Edward J Larson
Summer for the Gods, Edward J Larson
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Summer for the Gods
The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion

Author: Edward J Larson

Narrator: Brian Troxell

Unabridged: 10 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 10/03/2017

Synopsis

The landmark history of the Scopes Trial and the battle over evolution and creation in America's schools

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History

“A riveting book.” —Frank Rich, New York Times

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.

With an afterword that considers the relevance and resonance of this culture clash in contemporary America, Edward Larson's classic Summer for the Gods is the single most authoritative account of this pivotal event.
 

Reviews

Goodreads review by Susan O on February 14, 2018

4.5 - Overall an enjoyable and easy read. Excellent summary in the Afterword of the current (as of 2006) status of the creation vs. evolution debate.......more

Goodreads review by Porter on March 08, 2020

I have only labelled a few Pulitzers as “Had any other book won, it would have been an injustice,” but Summer for the Gods earns that ranking. The book capitivated me from the very beginning. It starts off citing the discourse between William Jennings Bryant and Clarence Darrow. Bryant, the 4 time pr......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on April 27, 2022

In the last year, I have developed an insatiable fascination for the clash between religion and science, specifically as this encounter relates to social policy.  The famous Scopes trial (also commonly referred to as "the Monkey Trial") was the most fervently hyped and widely publicized legal disput......more

Goodreads review by Erik on May 07, 2013

I've been going up to NW Wisconsin for several years now with members of the Gregory family to stay in the house once occupied by an ancestor and now used as a vacation retreat. Knowing the area, I can now go up there without a book, confident that the Hayward Public Library twenty or so miles away......more

Goodreads review by Liam on September 22, 2022

Excellent, if not always readable account, of the famous 1925 Scopes trial, and what really happened - a quite important and difficult task because the 'monkey trial' as it is often called, has attracted more misinformation, misunderstanding and down right legends then it is possible for anyone to r......more

Quotes

"Edward Larson . . . tells the Scopes story with clarity and energy. . . . His book may be among the best one-volume primers on an American intellectual twilight."—Boston Globe

"Larson's work is a thoroughly researched, thoroughly readable retelling of the tale. It leaves no subplot or character untouched. And when one considers how powerful the tensions underlying events 72 years ago remain today, Larson deserves hearty thanks. He's reintroducing us to vital history that too quickly transformed into fiction and myth. . . . The Scopes trial is still with us. Larson has elevated its presence from simplified myth to illuminating fact."—Christian Science Monitor

"Larson's account is an unusually balanced and readable treatment of the Scopes trial and its complexities. . . . Even better is Larson's ability to humanize the trial and make it a tale of human folly. . . . The book is a good read about an important and often misunderstood subject. For his achievement, Larson deserves high praise."—D. G. Hart, American Historical Review

"Forget the Lindberg kidnapping trial, the Manson trial, or even the O.J. trial. The real trial of the century was the Scopes Trial, and, although much has been written about it, nothing comes close to the definitive history written by Edward J. Larson."—Skeptic

"Edward Larson tells the true story of the Scopes trial brilliantly, and the truth is a lot more interesting than the myth that was presented to the public in Inherit the Wind."—Philip Johnson, University of California-Berkeleyand author of Darwin on Trial

"Experts will learn much about the background and details of the Scopes trial; the general reader will be drawn into the trial as never before. Inherit the Wind, step aside!"—Will Provine, Cornell University

"A marvelous remake of the drama in Dayton. Summer for the Gods accomplishes the extraordinary feat of teaching us a good deal that is new about the trial and its significance, including the behind-the-scenes strategizing of the lawyers, the civil liberties stakes in the outcome, and the realities of its impact on the teaching of evolution in the United States."—Daniel J. Kevles, author of The Physicists: The Historyof a Scientific Community in Modern America

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