When All the Gods Trembled: Darwinism, Scopes, and American Intellectuals (American Intellectual Culture) - Hardcover

Conkin, Paul K.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0847690636 ISBN 13: 9780847690633

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1998

Synopsis

When All the Gods Trembled narrates the drama of the famous Scopes Monkey Trial, and describes the varied attempts by early 20th century Americans to accommodate Darwinism into their religious traditions. Conkin's sweeping narrative about this complex relationship is destined to change the way all Americans think about Darwin, the Scopes trial, and American religious and intellectual thought.

About this title

About the Author:

Paul K. Conkin is distinguished professor of history at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of numerous books, including most recently American Originals (A History Book Club Main Selection, ISBN 0-8078-4649-X) and The Uneasy Center (0-8078-4492-6).

Review:

These balanced historical essays chronicle the profound impact of modern scientific and philosophical naturalism on American religious thought during the pivotal 1920s, when all the gods trembled before Darwinism and its ilk. Paul Conkin offers keen insights into the historic fundamentalist-modernist controversy and the ongoing debate over science and religion. (Edward J. Larson, Pulitzer prize-winning author of Summer for the Gods)

Three stars . . . important. (Science and Spirit, Vol. 10 Issue 2 July/August 1999)

When All the Gods Trembled does a fine job of identifying the specific elements in the Judeo-Christian tradition that evolutionary theory tended to undermine. (CHOICE)

Conkin provides a sensitive sociocultural description of the residents of Dayton, who were humiliated by their portrayal in the national media. He is critical of the caricatures provided by those who conspired to uncover, maximize, and even manufacture a kind of 'cultural warfare.' (Karl W. Giberson and Donald A. Yerxa Books and Culture)

Both satisfying and enjoyable. . . . I am glad that I had an opportunity to review When All the Gods Trembled: Darwinism, Scopes, and American Intellectuals. (Michael Ruse The Review Of Politics)

Distinguished historian Paul Conkin has given us a provocative book surveying a key period in America's intellectual history. Conkin deserves credit for writing an eminently readable overview with keen insights into important issues such as Darwinism, fundamentalism, and modernism. (Barry Hankins, Baylor University Journal of Church & State)

Dense typesetting allows the book's short length to conceal a surprising amount of text. With a sympathetic, dense, and readable style that accepts no nonsense, Conkin provides a wide-ranging analysis in this compact, useful volume. (Randall L. Hall, Wake Forest University Georgia Historical Quarterly)

The real contribution of Conkin's book lies in the chapters that examine the profound issues at stake in the conflict between religious faith and scientific naturalism that the Scopes trial came to symbolize. For its recasting of the putative conflict between faith and science in these unfamiliar terms plus its remarkable incisiveness on the contributing issues, this book is recommended to anyone interested in twentieth-century American intellectual life. (The Journal Of Southern History)

Conkin provides a useful introduction to the cultural crises of the 1920s. (Journal Of The History Of Biology)

A worthwhile addition to the literature of the Scopes trial and of the evolution controversy in the United States. (North Carolina Historical Review)

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0847690636
• ISBN 13: 9780847690633
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208