The Evolution Controversy in America

Synopsis

A comprehensive intellectual history of America’s century-old debate over teaching evolution in public schools.For well over a century, the United States has witnessed a prolonged debate over the teaching of organic evolution in the nation’s public schools. The controversy that began with the publication of Darwin’s Origin of the Species had by the 1920s expanded to include theologians, politicians, and educators. The Scopes trial of 1925 provided the growing antievolution movement with significant publicity and led to a decline in the teaching of evolution.In The Evolution Crisis in America, George E. Webb details how efforts to improve science education in the wake of Sputnik resurrected antievolution sentiment and led to the emergence of “creation science” as the most recent expression of that sentiment. Creationists continue to demand “balanced treatment” of theories of creation and evolution in public schools, even though their efforts have been declared unconstitutional in a series of federal court cases. Their battles have been much more successful at the grassroots level, garnering support from local politicians and educators. Webb attributes the success of creationists primarily to the lack of scientific literacy among the American public.

Copyright:

1994

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

312 Pages

ISBN-13:

9780813182728

Related ISBNs:

9780813190495

Publisher:

The University Press of Kentucky

Date of Addition:

02/01/25

Copyrighted By:

the University Press of Kentucky

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Science, Religion and Spirituality, Education, Social Studies, Philosophy, Politics and Government

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.