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drusmilford's review against another edition
2.0
Historical account of the Scopes trial. Rather dry reading. Perhaps I should have chosen another book on the same subject which was not quite so detailed and a bit more interesting.
wfryer's review
5.0
Well written and researched, so relevant to modern day
Despite the passage of 94 years, the 1925 Scopes Trial remains an important and relevant cultural event in the United States which we need to both study and understand to effectively work in the religious and scientific context of the 21st-century. I was struck by how powerfully media interpretations of events, like the play and movie, “Inherit the Wind,” have and continue to shape public perceptions of historical events, even when the authors explicitly state that they are not fully intending to do so. (That book and movie was more a commentary on McCarthyism of the 1950s than it was the religious and scientific debates of the mid-1920s.)
I also found the deep dive into the politics and ideas of William Jennings Bryan as well as Clarence Darrow and the ACLU extremely enlightening. Too often as humans we want to paint with stereotypical brushes, and pretend we completely understand people or events because we perceive a few facts vaguely. That may be the case with William Jennings Bryan. One thing which is not mentioned at all in the book is the way in which DNA evidence has and continues to inform our understanding of evolution and origins from common ancestors, as well as the incredibly rich complexity of life. Of course this is not a book solely focused on evolution, it is focused on the 1925 Scopes Trial, but there is much food for thought here. We continue to be informed by both science and historical analyses. I highly recommend this book and found it to be enlightning. I am looking forward to sharing it with our Sunday school class this Sunday, as we are continuing our study titles, “Curiosity and Questions: Jesus and Faith.”
Learn more on http://followJesus.wesfryer.com
Despite the passage of 94 years, the 1925 Scopes Trial remains an important and relevant cultural event in the United States which we need to both study and understand to effectively work in the religious and scientific context of the 21st-century. I was struck by how powerfully media interpretations of events, like the play and movie, “Inherit the Wind,” have and continue to shape public perceptions of historical events, even when the authors explicitly state that they are not fully intending to do so. (That book and movie was more a commentary on McCarthyism of the 1950s than it was the religious and scientific debates of the mid-1920s.)
I also found the deep dive into the politics and ideas of William Jennings Bryan as well as Clarence Darrow and the ACLU extremely enlightening. Too often as humans we want to paint with stereotypical brushes, and pretend we completely understand people or events because we perceive a few facts vaguely. That may be the case with William Jennings Bryan. One thing which is not mentioned at all in the book is the way in which DNA evidence has and continues to inform our understanding of evolution and origins from common ancestors, as well as the incredibly rich complexity of life. Of course this is not a book solely focused on evolution, it is focused on the 1925 Scopes Trial, but there is much food for thought here. We continue to be informed by both science and historical analyses. I highly recommend this book and found it to be enlightning. I am looking forward to sharing it with our Sunday school class this Sunday, as we are continuing our study titles, “Curiosity and Questions: Jesus and Faith.”
Learn more on http://followJesus.wesfryer.com
jrlee27's review against another edition
5.0
In reading historian/lawyer Edward J. Larson's book, "Summer of the Gods", I became aware of how much I thought I knew of the Scopes Trial of 1925 was based on a mythology, actually a fiction, a fabrication, that was put forth in Lawrence and Lee's play/film, "Inherit the Wind". "Summer of the Gods" is not an opinionated popular rehash of the work of others but rather a scholarly work going back to documented primary sources. I strongly recommend this book to get the facts relative to the Scopes Trial before, during, and after. Indeed there is so much more here than just the trial but also on politics, attitudes, and culture. Honestly, IMHO, it is not a niche book as what it addresses is pretty much applicable to the breadth of how we as "rational" beings in our greater community live today.
banandrew's review against another edition
4.0
Summer for the Gods is exactly what it advertises: a book about the Scopes trial. In all likelihood, it is exactly what you would want out of a book on the Scopes trial. The book is divided into three broad sections---before, during, and after the trial---and Larson uses those sections to provide historical context around everything.
Larson writes, before the trial, about the adoption of Darwin's ideas in their first few decades: the comparisons between Lamarckian evolution and a Mendelian understanding, the ways evolution began being taught in schools, even the inclusion of evolution into most fundamentalists' understanding of the Genesis account of creation. He describes the history of the ACLU, the AAUP, and other legal forces that were developing in the early 20th century. He shows just how much of the public Christian outrage against evolution developed solely from William Jennings Bryan. As a historian, Larson's account of the story is chock-full of quotes, newspaper snippets, and other indicators of the general atmosphere of the trial.
If you know the trial story, the book progresses much as you would expect. The trial itself is a farce, almost entirely rigged by a few townsfolk in Dayton. Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan turn the event into political grandstanding, making it into a battle of religion vs. science and capturing the attention of the entire press for a few weeks. The judge doesn't let the defense challenge the law, doesn't let them bring expert witnesses, and strikes out Darrow's entire questioning of Bryan before the defense gives up and gets a quick conviction from the jury. Larson's description of the trial consists primarily of highlights from the speeches and reactions from the press, especially from both the local newspapers and from the popular journalist H. L. Mencken.
In the final section, Larson tackles the development of American culture and historical treatment of the Scopes trial. He starts out critical of Frederick Allen's Only Yesterday, which he claims inadvertently set down a mildly inaccurate portrayal of the trial for the next generation. In particular, Larson points to the book's description of the trial's result as a strong victory for the defense and for scientific inquiry in general, which he claims influenced intellectuals to not consider it an important issue until more recent fundamentalist pushes for teaching creationism surfaced. He finally criticizes Inherit the Wind for painting the trial as a much more ominous affair than it was, describing it as a product of the more serious McCarthyism that overlooked the mostly friendly circus that the trial actually was.
This book is a great parallel to Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life in terms of its handling of American culture before and after the trial (he even cites Hofstadter on multiple occasions)---but simply tackling a much smaller scope. Larson is not as critical as I make him out to be in the previous paragraph, and Hofstadter's treatment of the few decades after the trial are more thorough if that's where your interest lies. Worth the read if the subject at all interests you.
Larson writes, before the trial, about the adoption of Darwin's ideas in their first few decades: the comparisons between Lamarckian evolution and a Mendelian understanding, the ways evolution began being taught in schools, even the inclusion of evolution into most fundamentalists' understanding of the Genesis account of creation. He describes the history of the ACLU, the AAUP, and other legal forces that were developing in the early 20th century. He shows just how much of the public Christian outrage against evolution developed solely from William Jennings Bryan. As a historian, Larson's account of the story is chock-full of quotes, newspaper snippets, and other indicators of the general atmosphere of the trial.
If you know the trial story, the book progresses much as you would expect. The trial itself is a farce, almost entirely rigged by a few townsfolk in Dayton. Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan turn the event into political grandstanding, making it into a battle of religion vs. science and capturing the attention of the entire press for a few weeks. The judge doesn't let the defense challenge the law, doesn't let them bring expert witnesses, and strikes out Darrow's entire questioning of Bryan before the defense gives up and gets a quick conviction from the jury. Larson's description of the trial consists primarily of highlights from the speeches and reactions from the press, especially from both the local newspapers and from the popular journalist H. L. Mencken.
In the final section, Larson tackles the development of American culture and historical treatment of the Scopes trial. He starts out critical of Frederick Allen's Only Yesterday, which he claims inadvertently set down a mildly inaccurate portrayal of the trial for the next generation. In particular, Larson points to the book's description of the trial's result as a strong victory for the defense and for scientific inquiry in general, which he claims influenced intellectuals to not consider it an important issue until more recent fundamentalist pushes for teaching creationism surfaced. He finally criticizes Inherit the Wind for painting the trial as a much more ominous affair than it was, describing it as a product of the more serious McCarthyism that overlooked the mostly friendly circus that the trial actually was.
This book is a great parallel to Hofstadter's Anti-Intellectualism in American Life in terms of its handling of American culture before and after the trial (he even cites Hofstadter on multiple occasions)---but simply tackling a much smaller scope. Larson is not as critical as I make him out to be in the previous paragraph, and Hofstadter's treatment of the few decades after the trial are more thorough if that's where your interest lies. Worth the read if the subject at all interests you.
txwitch80's review against another edition
1.0
The author was a professor of mine at the University of Georgia and I'd wanted to read this book since then. I should have ignored that feeling. I do not understand why it won the Pulitzer Price. It was so boring! I struggled to finish and did not enjoy any of it. It read like a dissertation, and I found myself repeatedly checking how many pages I had left to suffer through.
mcreed06's review against another edition
4.0
Fabulous book; I finished Summer for the Gods with a plan to travel to Dayton, Tennessee for the 100th Anniversary of the Scopes Trial. Surely, the city will recognize this significant event with a reenactment. Now, that, I want to see. July 2025 is five years away, but the Lord Willing and the Creek don't rise, I will be there.
When I stated my goal to read every book of 3B Book Club, Melissa turned to me and said, "There are some that I thought I should warn you about.." I responded that I was slowly but surely reading my way through Personal History, a 600-plus-page, tediously-written autobiography written in the tiniest font. Melissa said, "That was one of them."
Summer of the Gods was likely another one that she would have flagged. It was written by a Scholar for dedicated readers of History and Law. As with Personal History, I am so glad I read it. Knowledge of this piece of U.S. History, especially the origins of the ACLU, is uplifting.
It is quintessential America that two men of opposing ideologies, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, could cordially greet each other in a court of law to challenge the other’s worldview. Yes, one was likely an arrogant jerk, and the other an insufferable Bible Thumper but both were well-meaning men who stood up for their principles with courage. Each in his own unique way steered the course of U.S. History.
When I stated my goal to read every book of 3B Book Club, Melissa turned to me and said, "There are some that I thought I should warn you about.." I responded that I was slowly but surely reading my way through Personal History, a 600-plus-page, tediously-written autobiography written in the tiniest font. Melissa said, "That was one of them."
Summer of the Gods was likely another one that she would have flagged. It was written by a Scholar for dedicated readers of History and Law. As with Personal History, I am so glad I read it. Knowledge of this piece of U.S. History, especially the origins of the ACLU, is uplifting.
It is quintessential America that two men of opposing ideologies, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, could cordially greet each other in a court of law to challenge the other’s worldview. Yes, one was likely an arrogant jerk, and the other an insufferable Bible Thumper but both were well-meaning men who stood up for their principles with courage. Each in his own unique way steered the course of U.S. History.
christianbennett's review against another edition
5.0
Incredible book - one of the most compelling non-fiction accounts I've read. Very deserved of the Pulitzer Prize it won, for it is clear that Larson invested a countless number of hours to write this book, with astounding levels of detail on every page. In addition to that, it also abounds in emotion - you really feel personal connections to Bryan, Darrow, and their teams.
The final section of the book takes a different tone. Whereas before, we see a blow-by-blow account of every speech of the trial, in the end, Larsen attempts to contextualize and explain the impact of the trial. It is still very well done, but I couldn't help but feel less engaged, simply because the scope is so much broader, which resulted in a less clear narrative at times.
All-in-all, terrific book. Highly recommend.
The final section of the book takes a different tone. Whereas before, we see a blow-by-blow account of every speech of the trial, in the end, Larsen attempts to contextualize and explain the impact of the trial. It is still very well done, but I couldn't help but feel less engaged, simply because the scope is so much broader, which resulted in a less clear narrative at times.
All-in-all, terrific book. Highly recommend.
alisobrig's review against another edition
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
I read this book for a graduate level course on the history of Darwin. I thought it was a very engaging explanation of the cultural, social, legal time of the 1920s and presents a very accurate account of an often misremembered legend. The Scopes Trial has been a popular historical moment I've been interested in since middle school so it was fun to revisit it with more biology, history, and rhetorical knowledge.