Skip to main content

spacer
Daily Kos Staff, Front PageRSS
Daily Kos editors
  • Profile
  • Diaries (list)

Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 08:00 AM PDT

Book Review: The Devil In Dover

by DarkSydeFollow for Daily Kos

  • Tweet
  • 169 Comments


    • spacer The Devil in Dover: An Insider's Story of Dogma v. Darwin in Small-town America
    By Laurie Lebo
    The New Press
    238 Pages $ 24.95

    In late 2005 national media eagerly flocked to the heretofore peaceful town of Dover, PA in what many journalists labeled a modern day Scopes Monkey Trial, officially known as Kitzmiller Vs Dover Area School District. Reporters came from DC, New York, LA, along with every nook and cranny of the US, not to mention Europe and Asia. But there was one who didn't have to travel to get this story; Laurie Lebo grew up in the area, her family owned the local Christian radio station, her childhood friends were pastors, teachers, and parents embroiled in what would become a bitter controversy turning neighbor against neighbor. When America's simmering culture clash erupted into a full blown firefight, she found herself smack dab between opposing forces fighting tooth and nail in a battle to the idealogical death. Lebo leverages that unique geographical perch with writing skills that can only be described as both gritty and brilliant. Not to mention at times refreshing, for instance:

    I've thought of this notion of "fair and balanced" journalism and of how, somewhere along the line, we as journalists have gotten confused by a misguided notion of objectivity. It is our job to inform readers of the truth, not just regurgitate  lies, even if it means the stories are no longer "balanced." page 158  

    This is not the usual recap of claims and counter claims, or courtroom details provided by one dimensional cookie cutter characters. The local evangelical community in Dover has been portrayed in some quarters as dishonest hicks gleefully rubbing the hands together and cackling at the thought of bringing down science. The author quickly dispatches that erroneous image; these are the kind of Christians who live by the Sermon on the Mount. They comfort the destitute and terminally ill, they volunteer long hours persuading local businesses to provide recently released felons with gainful employment; in one touching example, the author's own father literally gives a total stranger going through a tough time the brand new shoes off his feet.

    Despite her roots and understandable affection for the opinions of friends and family, Lebo courageously exhibits the highest standards in intellectual honesty and journalistic ethos. She doesn't go easy on those who led Dover ISD residents into a bitterly divisive, legal maelstrom based on crack pot pseudoscience. Far from it. Part of the great appeal of this book is that those conflicts are woven into compelling personal narratives and observations from an author who is clearly conflicted on both a professional and emotional level. Rather than trying to hide that internal pain, the author lets it all hang out to the great benefit of her lucky readers. And that's what makes this book such an important read for residents of other close knits communities all over the nation that may be or are being drawn into this debate: the price paid by the local community goes far beyond the cost assessed on the school district (In the case of Dover it ended up costing local taxpayers a cool one-million dollars). Once friendly neighbors become enemies, relationships are tested to the breaking point. And in some cases, based on what's revealed in the book anyway, it sounds like those rifts may never be repaired, even long after the cameras and media celebrities have left for the next big story.

    Readers who appreciate the science of evolution, or the lack thereof in Intelligent Design Creationism, will not be disappointed. Lebo wryly remarks at one point she's thankful the topic under scrutiny was not quantum physics, or she would have been hard pressed to adequately convey the scientific testimony. Nevertheless, she does her biology homework magnificently, breaking down even the more esoteric material with such proficiency it should inform those readers new to the evidence for evolution, and still delight the veteran molecular biologist. Same goes for the legal history and constitutional intricacies underpinning the issues at hand, all of which are every bit as interesting as they are far beyond the scope of this review.

    In short, this is hands down the best book I've read about the landmark trial. I recommend it highly for anyone. But most especially for any local board members being courted by IDC proponents; whatever you do, before you bring this misery down on your constituents, pick up a copy of Laurie Lebo's The Devil in Dover, and read every last word of it.

    Originally posted to Daily Kos on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 08:00 AM PDT.

    Tags

    • Evolutionary Biology
    Collapse Article --> (Load) (Load) (Load) (Load) (Load) (Load) (Load)
    EMAIL TO A FRIEND X
    Your Email has been sent.
    (Load)
    You must add at least one tag to this diary before publishing it.

    Add keywords that describe this diary. Separate multiple keywords with commas.
    Tagging tips - Search For Tags - Browse For Tags

    ?

    More Tagging tips:

    A tag is a way to search for this diary. If someone is searching for "Barack Obama," is this a diary they'd be trying to find?

    Use a person's full name, without any title. Senator Obama may become President Obama, and Michelle Obama might run for office.

    If your diary covers an election or elected official, use election tags, which are generally the state abbreviation followed by the office. CA-01 is the first district House seat. CA-Sen covers both senate races. NY-GOV covers the New York governor's race.

    Tags do not compound: that is, "education reform" is a completely different tag from "education". A tag like "reform" alone is probably not meaningful.

    Consider if one or more of these tags fits your diary: Civil Rights, Community, Congress, Culture, Economy, Education, Elections, Energy, Environment, Health Care, International, Labor, Law, Media, Meta, National Security, Science, Transportation, or White House. If your diary is specific to a state, consider adding the state (California, Texas, etc). Keep in mind, though, that there are many wonderful and important diaries that don't fit in any of these tags. Don't worry if yours doesn't.

    You can add a private note to this diary when hotlisting it:
    Are you sure you want to remove this diary from your hotlist?
    Are you sure you want to remove your recommendation? You can only recommend a diary once, so you will not be able to re-recommend it afterwards.
    Rescue this diary, and add a note:
    Are you sure you want to remove this diary from Rescue?
    Choose where to republish this diary. The diary will be added to the queue for that group. Publish it from the queue to make it appear.

    You must be a member of a group to use this feature.

    Add a quick update to your diary without changing the diary itself:
    Are you sure you want to remove this diary?
    (The diary will be removed from the site and returned to your drafts for further editing.)
    (The diary will be removed.)
    Are you sure you want to save these changes to the published diary?

    Comment Preferences

    169 comments | Permalink

    •  Sounds like a compelling read. (6+ / 0-)
      Recommended by:
      escapee, irate, Navy Vet Terp, profmom, mudslide, Pan Zareta

      I might get it when it comes out in paperback.

      "Somewhere. Someone's god is laughing." - Three Days Grace

      by Intercaust on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 08:13:10 AM PDT

      •  How does this book compare to (0+ / 0-)

        Edward Humes Monkey Girl? I used Monkey Girl in my Religion and Society class and it went over well.

        I don't know what consciousness is or how it works, but I like it.

        by SocioSam on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 09:54:19 AM PDT

        [ Parent ]

        •  Of the 4 books currently out on Dover (0+ / 0-)

          Chapman, Matthew
          2007 "40 Days and 40 Nights" New York: Harper Collins

          Humes, Edward
          2007  "Monkey Girl" New York: Harper Collins

          Lebo, Lauri
          2008 "The Devil in Dover" New York: The New Press

          Slack, Gordy
          2007 "The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything." New York: John Wiley and Sons

          I would probably go with "Monkey Girl" for a "Religion and Society" course because Humes does a better job of placing intelligent design creationism in the larger creatioist movement in America. However, none of the books have the Dover social context exposed like Lebo's. Out of these four I most enjoyed Lebo's work followed closely by Matthew Chapman's book.

          I would love to teach an entire course on Dover someday. I would also include the laughable revisionist book, "Traipsing into Evolution" authored by Discovery Institute fellows David Dewolf, John West, Casey Luskin, and Johnathan Witt (2006 Seattle: The Discovery Institute).

          by Gary Hurd on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 10:51:45 AM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          •  A whole course (1+ / 0-)
            Recommended by:
            auroraborealis

            would be great and I like the idea of something by the Discovery Institute - but hate to see student fork over money for it.

            There are some "good" web videos of Creation lectures. Some are surprisingly good at confusing facts and logic and come off sounding "scientific" and authoritative - especially for students not trained in critical thinking.

            Thanks for the insights to the 4 books.

            I don't know what consciousness is or how it works, but I like it.

            by SocioSam on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 11:26:10 AM PDT

            [ Parent ]

            •  Some other books to consider (0+ / 0-)

              You could use

              Numbers, Ronald L.
              2006 "The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism"  Berkeley: University of California Press

              for the central book on US creationism, and Lebo's book for insight into the personal and community dynamic, with links to the trial material.

              by Gary Hurd on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 11:30:12 AM PDT

              [ Parent ]

              •  Thanks and (0+ / 0-)

                let me know if you ever get to teach such a course.

                I don't know what consciousness is or how it works, but I like it.

                by SocioSam on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 02:45:15 PM PDT

                [ Parent ]

        •  I loved Monkey Girl. (0+ / 0-)

          I tried 40 Days and 40 Nights by Matthew Chapman (Darwin is his direct ancestor), but didn't finish it.

          by legadillo on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 04:30:56 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

      •  why wait? (1+ / 0-)
        Recommended by:
        legadillo

        Head down to your local library (the last bastion of free thought in America) and check it out. I plan to as soon as it opens tomorrow. The mark of a great book review is one which makes me want to go to the library RIGHT NOW!

        I'm at the junction of short, nerdy, and oddly attractive.

        by Pan Zareta on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 02:04:29 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

        •  You beat me to it. (0+ / 0-)

          by legadillo on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 04:32:55 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          •  darn! (0+ / 0-)

            My local library doesn't have it yet. Maybe one of the other libraries in the system (my city joined a system which gives me access to the holding of some 55 libraries in southeastern Wisconsin) has it. I'll have to go and check the computer there tomorrow.

            I'm at the junction of short, nerdy, and oddly attractive.

            by Pan Zareta on Tue Jul 22, 2008 at 07:22:24 PM PDT

            [ Parent ]

      •  It'll be at your library (0+ / 0-)

        soon, if it isn't already. LIBRARY LIBRARY, RAH RAH RAH.

        by legadillo on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 04:28:34 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

    •  Small point, but (13+ / 0-)
      Recommended by:
      Heart of the Rockies, Dallasdoc, Philoguy, CParis, ThomasB, entlord1, Dar Nirron, adrianrf, timbuck, jdl51, ceebee7, ancblu, ThirtyFiveUp

      one thing I find disturbing about Pat Buchanan is his use of the language of war to describe peaceful disagreements between fellow Americans.

      What Buchanan calls "culture wars" are in fact verbal disagreements.  No one is shooting anyone else.  We have not formed opposing militias. And throwing in this language both exaggerates the depth of disagreement and makes it more difficult to resolve issues.

      So, that is why this from the above diary bothers me:

      When America's simmering culture clash erupted into a full blown firefight, she found herself smack dab between opposing forces fighting tooth and nail in a battle to the idealogical death.

      There was no firefight.  No one died.  No one was fighting tooth and nail.  It was a lawsuit.  Lawsuits are the opposite of those things.  They are the way we settle disputes without firefights and armed battles.

      Please, stop buying into the exaggerated, overheated and divisive language of Pat Buchanan.

      by Wandering mind on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 08:13:28 AM PDT

      •  I totally agree, but Buchanan is just (6+ / 0-)
        Recommended by:
        Dallasdoc, Wandering mind, CParis, ruleoflaw, adrianrf, timbuck

        echoing the Republican government's use of "war framing" for any issue we may face - that we don't really want to change.

        The War on drugs. The war on poverty. The war on terror.

        The Culture Wars include all the violence directed against the Civil Rights Movement and those working to eliminate racism from this country.

        It describes ideological battles waged with not just "words" but propaganda. There are a variety of dividing lines in this war and they all, to me, have to do with whether or not people can or should be able to make their own choices or to allow/tolerate the freedoms of others.

        Greetings from Deep Space!

        by xxdr zombiexx on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 08:17:57 AM PDT

        [ Parent ]

        •  But it isn't a "war." (3+ / 0-)
          Recommended by:
          Heart of the Rockies, xxdr zombiexx, RJP9999

          None of the "wars" you mention are.  The wars are happening in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and other places.  

          Making use of that word to describe policy disagreements distorts both those disagreements and the meaning of real war.

          by Wandering mind on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 08:22:24 AM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          •  I know. IT's not MY fault. (5+ / 0-)
            Recommended by:
            marina, thatvisionthing, gsenski, ceebee7, cn4st4datrees

            This is something I am saying often in my relegalization bit: we HAVE to smash the framing of the discussion.

            War is a scam. Therefore let us say Culture Scam.

            The Scam on Drugs.

            The Scam on Terror.

            Republicans and lapdog Dems are to be saddled with the responsibility for this situation.

            Greetings from Deep Space!

            by xxdr zombiexx on Sun Jul 20, 2008 at 08:49:56 AM PDT

            [

    Related searches:
    parent monkey library culture community
    gipoco.com is neither affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its contents. This is a safe-cache copy of the original web site.