God-or Gorilla: Images of Evolution in the Jazz Age

As scholars debate the most appropriate way to teach evolutionary theory, Constance Areson Clark provides an intriguing reflection on similar debates in the not—too—distant past. Set against the backdrop of the Jazz Age, God—or Gorilla explores the efforts of biologists to explain evolution to a confused and conflicted public during the 1920s.

Focusing on the use of images and popularization, Clark shows how scientists and anti—evolutionists deployed schematics, cartoons, photographs, sculp...