UGA PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING PROFESSOR\u27S LECTURE TO BE BROADCAST ON C-SPAN

Thursday, September 7, 2000 CONTACT: Ed Larson, (706) 542-2660 WRITER: Kathy R. Pharr, (706) 542-5172 UGA PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING PROFESSOR\u27S LECTURE TO BE BROADCAST ON C-SPAN ATHENS, Ga. - University of Georgia law and history professor Ed Larson, whose book on the Scopes trial won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for history, will be featured in a nationwide broadcast on C-SPAN Saturday night, September 9, at 9:35 p.m. EST. C-SPAN will broadcast the July lecture Larson presented in Dayton, Tennessee, the site of the legendary 1925 trial, as part of its American Perspectives series. Larson\u27s commentary, The 75th Anniversary of the Scopes Trial, examines the lasting cultural impact of America\u27s first trial of the century. Larson\u27s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America\u27s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion, chronicled the event, which pitted famed attorneys Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan in a legal debate over the teaching of creationism and evolution in public schools. The Scopes trial crystallized the issue of individual liberty -- free speech and academic freedom in a democratic society -- and the tensions about tyranny of the majority versus individual rights, said Larson. It became the episode in our American history that best captures that issue, and it resonates just as much today as it did 75 years ago. Larson, UGA\u27s Richard B. Russell Professor of History and Law, joined the university in 1987. He has just completed another well received book, a history of scientific research on the Galapagos Islands. In February, he was awarded the prestigious George Sarton Award honoring a historian of science for a body of work. #