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Tag Archives: Scopes Trial

The Weight of the Moon or How a Single Textbook Skewed Our View of History

Textbook HistoryBy Ronald LadouceurNovember 29, 20096 Comments

November 29, 2009 In the 1950s and 1960s, Moon, Mann and Otto’s Modern Biology was the most popular high school biology textbook in the country, commanding upwards of 50% of the market. It was also among the most retrograde and out of date. Scholars have criticized the book for its weak presentation of the topic…

After Scopes, Black Was The New Grey

Textbook HistoryBy Ronald LadouceurNovember 18, 20091 Comment

November 18, 2009 The Scopes trial represented both a crisis and an opportunity for biology textbook authors and publishers. George W. Hunter, author of the textbook at the center of the trial, was caught flat-footed. He and his publisher, the American Book Company, were midway through a scheduled revision to Civic Biology when the Scopes…

Biology Textbooks Before Scopes (Updated)

Textbook HistoryBy Ronald LadouceurNovember 8, 20093 Comments

November 8, 2009 [List updated to include Applied Biology (1911) and Practical Biology (1916)] Google has now digitized all of the most important and popular American high school biology textbooks published before 1923. Though this cut off date, dictated by current copyright law, prevents easy review of a few significant “pre-Scopes” textbooks – specifically Henry…

The Case of the Disappearing Darwin

Textbook HistoryBy Ronald LadouceurMay 15, 20093 Comments

May 15, 2009 It’s a powerful symbol of capitulation: the straight on, serious portrait of Charles Darwin, the wizened, white bearded author of the Origin of Species and father of modern biology, was stripped from the frontispiece of a popular high school textbook, replaced by, of all things, a cartoon of the human digestive tract.…

© 2008-22 Ronald Ladouceur
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