The next two chapters examine the initial anti-evolution crusade and its impact. In particular, Chapter Two traces the reform heritage of Evangelicalism within the Progressive Era, the rise of the anti-evolution issue among fundamentalist evangelicals, and the enactment of the first anti-evolution laws leading up to the Scopes trial. From this analysis, the crusade against evolution emerges as a mass movement fitting the interventionist pattern common to Progressive reforms. The third chapter tells the Scopes story. The account then follows the impact of that case on the ongoing anti-evolution movement through 1960.

The final two chapters carry the story up to

1985. Chapter Four traces the readmission of evolution to the classroom during the sixties, leading to Epperson, Which struck down the Arkansas anti-evolution law, and parallel legal actions in Tennessee and Mississippi. The last chapter reviews the cross-fire since 1970, as creationist initiated lawsuits and legislation designed to qualify evolutionary teaching while evolutionists struggled to consolidate their earlier gains. The book then closes with brief concluding remarks.

Overall, Edward J. Larson has done a good job with this book. The book is well searched and organized and is not one-sided. The main idea is clear and cannot be written any clearer. It focuses only on the legal history of 20th Century Creationism. The book was quite objective and thorough and it is hard to discern the author's position on the matter, although one suspects he may not be sympathetic to the Creationist cause since he is familiar with their sometimes devious and irrational strategies for manipulating public opinion, the courts and state legislatures to "overrule" the scientific community in the matter of evolution. He succeeds in amply illustrating his main thesis, namely that the response of the courts to Creationism has been profoundly influenced by public opinion. Well written and recently revised to bring it up to date.

The second interesting or unusual event from this story happened when the defense attorney Clarence Darrow called the prosecutor William J. Bryan to the stand as an expert on the Bible. Even though a counsel had no ri

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Approximate Word count = 1041
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)