Red Dynamite (eBook)

Creationism, Culture Wars, and Anticommunism in America

Carl R. Weinberg (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021
366 Seiten
Cornell University Press (Verlag)
9781501759314 (ISBN)

Infos

In Red Dynamite, Carl R. Weinberg argues that creationism's tenacious hold on American public life depended on culture-war politics inextricably embedded in religion. Many Christian conservatives were convinced that evolutionary thought promoted immoral and even bestial social, sexual, and political behavior. The "fruits" of subscribing to Darwinism were, in their minds, a dangerous rearrangement of God-given standards and the unsettling of traditional hierarchies of power. Despite claiming to focus exclusively on science and religion, creationists were practicing politics. Their anticommunist campaign, often infused with conspiracy theory, gained power from the fact that the Marxist founders, the early Bolshevik leaders, and their American allies were staunch evolutionists.

Using the Scopes "Monkey" Trial as a starting point, Red Dynamite traces the politically explosive union of Darwinism and communism over the next century. Across those years, social evolution was the primary target of creationists, and their "ideas have consequences" strategy instilled fear that shaped the contours of America's culture wars. By taking the anticommunist arguments of creationists seriously, Weinberg reveals a neglected dimension of antievolutionism and illuminates a source of the creationist movement's continuing strength.

Thanks to generous funding from Indiana University and its participation in TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem), the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.

Autor

Carl R. Weinberg is Adjunct Associate Professor of History and Senior Lecturer in the College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington. He is the author of Labor, Loyalty, and Rebellion. His website is https://carlrweinberg.com/. You can can also follow him on X @Euclid585.

Inhalt

Introduction: Belaboring Scopes
1. Lighting the Darwin Fuse
2. The Lamb-Dragon and The Devil's Poison
3. Blood Relationship, Bolshevism, and Whoopie Parties
4. The Wolf Pack and the Upas Tree
5. Beast Ancestry, Dangerous Triplets, and Damnable Heresies
6. Flood, Fruit, and Satan
7. Trees, Knees, and Nurseries
8. The Nightcrawler, the Wedge, and the Bloodiest Religion
Epilogue: The Baby Christian and the Dark Place

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.10.2021
• Reihe/Serie: Religion and American Public Life
• Reihe/Serie: Religion and American Public Life
• Zusatzinfo: 13 b&w halftones
• Verlagsort: Ithaca
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 150 x 150 mm
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Religionsgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Evolution
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
• Schlagworte: evolutionary thinking, George McCready Price, Marxism, Darwinsim,
• ISBN-13: 9781501759314 / 9781501759314