Edward J. Larson is a historian, and this book, published by Basic Books, is a Pulitzer Prize winning academic history of the 1925 Scopes trial over the teaching of evolution in Tennessee, correcting many popular misconceptions about the trial that had spread through later dramatized retellings. Its strength is careful archival reconstruction of what actually happened at the trial and in the debate before and after it, distinguishing documented fact from the trial's later fictionalized legacy. Its limit is that it focuses specifically on the historical trial and its immediate aftermath, so the fuller continuing history of the evolution and creationism debate in American religion and law after this period needs separate, more current sources to cover.
Facts
Citation
AuthorEdward J. Larson
PublisherBasic Books
Publication Year1997
URLhttps://archive.org/details/summerforgodssco0000lars
Source TypeScholarly work
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Edward J. Larson's scholarly history of the 1925 Scopes trial and America's continuing science versus religion debate. NotesHistory of the 1925 Scopes trial and America's continuing science-versus-religion debate.
Claims Backed By This Source (60 claims)
This source backs 60 claims across the atlas. As facts: 46 well-attested. As cited relationships: 7 holds. Plus 7 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Religious Movements, 18 claims: 15 well-attested, 2 holds, 1 general references.
- Historical Figures, 15 claims: 11 well-attested, 1 holds, 3 general references.
- Religious Events, 10 claims: 5 well-attested, 4 holds, 1 general references.
- Articles, 8 claims: 7 well-attested, 1 general references.
- Sources, 8 claims: 8 well-attested.
- States & Territories, 1 claims: 1 general references.
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