Episode 9: Evolution, Communism and Other “Dirty” Words
March 31, 2008 by greenmue
How did the Civil War and the Cold War affect the acceptance of evolution in the United States? Tune in to today’s program to find out. This is the second episode in a three-part series on the history behind the evolution-intelligent design controversy.
First guest essay - Caitlin McShea, “Atomic Bombs and Evolutionary Mushroom Clouds“
- Caitlin McShea is a sophomore majoring in biology and philosophy at Southwestern University. After graduation, she hopes to pursue a career in bioethical law.
Second guest essay - Kate Peteet, “Evolution Is Not a Dirty Word”
- Kate Peteet is a sophomore studying art history, architecture, and design at Southwestern University. She plans to attend graduate school as well, perhaps to study pre-Columbian South American art.
- Additional voices in the essay provided by fellow students Jennifer Pitzen and Marco Duran.
For further reading:
- Vannevar Bush, Science, the Endless Frontier (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1945).
- CBS News, “Poll: Majority Reject Evolution” (22 October 2005).
- Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch, The Golem: What You Should Know about Science, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998).
- Ian Hacking, The Social Construction of What? (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2000).
- Harris Poll, “Nearly Two-thirds of U.S. Adults Believe Human Beings Were Created by God,” Harris Interactive (6 July 2005).
- M. Paul Holsinger, War and American Popular Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1999).
- Karl Kautsky, Social Democracy vs Communism (New York: The Rand School Press, 1946).
- Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996).
- Edward J. Larson, Trial and Error: The American Controversy over Creation and Evolution (New York: Oxford UP, 2003).
- Chris Mooney, “Polling for ID,” Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (11 September 2003).
- Nathan Reingold, Science in America: A Documentary History, 1900-1939 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982).
- John L. Rudolph, Scientists in the Classroom: The Cold War Reconstruction of American Science Education (New York: Palgrave, 2002).
- Michael Ruse, The Evolution-Creation Struggle (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2006).
On the Shelf:
- Jennifer Karns Alexander, The Mantra of Efficiency: From Water Wheel to Social Control (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2008).
Audio credits:
All music on this program courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network, except where noted.
- Sunburn in Cyprus, History (intro & outro)
- Happy Gemini 3, Pondering the 10th Planet (transitions)
- music and audio during first segment
- background music: Maylon Clark Sextette, Atomic Did It (Howard Records, 1945). Courtesy of the Authentic History Center.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Message to Congress Requesting War Declarations with Germany and Italy (White House, Washington, DC, 11 December 1941). Courtesy of the American Presidency Project.
- Jackie Doll and His Pickled Peppers, When They Drop the Atomic Bomb (Mercury Records, 1951). Courtesy of the Authentic History Center.
- Billy Rose and Clarence Gaskill, You Can’t Make a Monkey of Me (1925). Courtesy of PBS’ American Experience series, Monkey Trial.
- during second segment: excerpts from Andrew Bird, Banking on a Myth.
- Sound effects courtesy of the FreeSound Project:
