The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design, Expanded Edition by Ronald L. Numbers
(Harvard University Press, 2006).
At first, the facts seem simply incomprehensible. How can it be possible that nearly 4 out of every 10 Americans believe our species was created in an instant, in a garden, only about 6,000 years ago? Those ideas are utterly impossible, scientifically, yet they have become a permanent part of America’s cultural and educational landscape. How?
When I started my research into the history of America’s educational culture wars 20 years ago, I began with a book that promised to explain these astounding facts. In The Creationists (first published in 1993), Ronald L. Numbers examined the history of creationism in the United States and around the world. By tracing the various disputes and realignments within the insular world of creationism, Numbers managed to explain how such outrageous ideas established themselves as a prominent and durable part of American culture.
Adam Laats’ latest Kappan article:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Laats
ADAM LAATS is a professor of education and history at Binghamton University, State University of New York. He is the author of Creationism USA: Bridging the Impasse on Teaching Evolution .
