Summer for the Gods

Edward J Larson

https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Gods-Americas-Continuing-Religion/dp/1541646037

Review

Summer for the  Gods  by  Pulitzer  Prize winner Edward J Larson  

is a book about  the Socpes Monkey  Trial of 1925.

It includes coverage of the days and events leading up to the trial, 

the trial itself and its legacy. 

Are you family with the Scopes Monkey trial of 1955?.  .

If you are  not familiar with this event, you should be. . 

It involved a Tennessee high school teacher accused of

violating a state statute making it unlawful to teach evolution

in a state funded school. The  repercussions of it’s verdict and

outcome are still felt to this day. 

Since 1925, there have been many books and articles written about this

event.  The story was even fictionalized in a 1955 play titled Inherit the

Wind(adapted into a movie in 1960)    Much of this coverage has  been

criticized.for being too simple or inaccurate   . For example,  Larson, 

says that Inhert  the wind includes only a few phrases taken from

the actual trial. He adds that another book on this subject, Only

Yesterday. presents the trial in “cartoon like fashion”. 

Larson’s book appears  to avoid many of these problems. 

For one thing  the  book provides a factual day to account of the 

Scopes Monkey Trial  This   includes the actual words spoken by

attorneys and witnesses  at the Trial.  It highlights the newspaper

coverage of the Trial. 

The book  puts the trial  in its proper historical context, detailing the key

events leading up to the trial.  It also provides some interesting perspective

on the   origins of both the pro and anti evolution movements..  This section

of the book was quite enlightening for me as I learned that some crhsitians

actually believed  in  evolution. 

Larson also  discusses the legacy  of the scopes Monkey Trial. These pages

include  discussions of recent legislative efforts encouraging teachers to

take a skeptical approach to controversial efforts

The book is well researched and includes more than 37 pages of footnotes.

I can't find too much fault with this book. Perhaps the background

information is a bit too  detailed but overall this is an excellent book. 

Recomoondation 

Overall, this is an excellent book.  Most readers will enjoy it-but I would

especially recommend it to those interested in learning about the origins

of the creation versus  evolution debate. 

My thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free

copy of this book ro reiview through Net Gallery.