God-or Gorilla

As scholars debate the most appropriate way to teach evolutionary theory, Constance Clark provides an intriguing reflection on similar debates in the not-too-distant past. Set against the backdrop of the Jazz Age, God-or Gorilla explores the efforts of biologists to explain evolution to a confused and conflicted public during the 1920s. Focusing on the use of images and popularization, Clark shows how scientists and anti-evolutionists deployed schematics, cartoons, photographs, sculptures, and paintings to win the battle for public acceptance. She uses representative illustrations and popular media accounts of the struggle to reveal how concepts of evolutionary theory changed as they were presented to, and absorbed into, popular culture. Engagingly written and deftly argued, God-or Gorilla offers original insights into the role of images in communicating-and miscommunicating-scientific ideas to the lay public.''God-or Gorilla is a splendid study and an important contribution to our understanding of the role of science in democratic society. It shows not only how early advocates understood evolutionary theory, but also how they illustrated and explained it, packaging it for a popular audience. This is interdisciplinary scholarship at its best.''-Michael Lienesch, author of In the Beginning: Fundamentalism, the Scopes Trial, and the Antievolution Movement