The Devil in Dover
Encyclopedia
The Devil in Dover: An Insider's Story of Dogma v. Darwin in Small-Town America is a book by journalist
Lauri Lebo
about the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
intelligent design
trial, through her own perspective as a local reporter on the trial as she confronted her own attitudes about organized religion and her father who was a fundamentalist Christian.
, with an emphasis on what the case meant for the citizens of Dover.
It deals with the involvement of outside parties like the Discovery Institute
, Thomas More Law Center
, ACLU, the scientific, religious and philosophical issues raised by the intelligent design movement, and the pitfalls for journalists covering a controversy like Kitzmiller, particularly small-town reporters.
It details Lebo's personal experience of the trial, including her interactions with her fundamentalist father, who favored the defendants.
In the Texas Observer, Ruth Pennebaker called it an "excellent, troubling book" and added:
In an article in the Columbia Journalism Review
on the "religion beat," Tim Townsend praised the book for giving readers a feeling of what it was like leading up to the trial and immediately afterwards, but criticized it for having unnecessary subplots about Lebo's personal experiences with her father and her own beliefs.
The Patriot-News
in Harrisburg took the opposite tack, saying "This is the fourth book about the Dover case, but Lebo avoids the problems of her predecessors, who didn't know the territory as well and sometimes bogged down in courtroom testimony"
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
Lauri Lebo
Lauri Lebo
Lauri Lebo is an author, radio station owner and reporter from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Working for the York Daily Record, Lebo was the principal local reporter covering Kitzmiller v...
about the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
Tammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al. was the first direct challenge brought in the United States federal courts testing a public school district policy that required the teaching of intelligent design...
intelligent design
Intelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
trial, through her own perspective as a local reporter on the trial as she confronted her own attitudes about organized religion and her father who was a fundamentalist Christian.
Themes
The book explores the behind-the-scenes events that led to the filing of a lawsuit by Tammy Kitzmiller and ten other parents in Dover, Pennsylvania in 2005 and covers the events of the trial up to and after the verdict for the plaintiffs by Judge John E. Jones IIIJohn E. Jones III
John Edward Jones III is an American lawyer and jurist from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A Republican, Jones was appointed by President George W. Bush as federal judge on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in February 2002 and was unanimously confirmed by...
, with an emphasis on what the case meant for the citizens of Dover.
It deals with the involvement of outside parties like the Discovery Institute
Discovery Institute
The Discovery Institute is a non-profit public policy think tank based in Seattle, Washington, best known for its advocacy of intelligent design...
, Thomas More Law Center
Thomas More Law Center
The Thomas More Law Center is a prominent conservative Christian, not-for-profit law center based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and is active throughout the United States. Its stated goals are defending the religious freedom of Christians, restoring "time honored values" and protecting the sanctity of...
, ACLU, the scientific, religious and philosophical issues raised by the intelligent design movement, and the pitfalls for journalists covering a controversy like Kitzmiller, particularly small-town reporters.
It details Lebo's personal experience of the trial, including her interactions with her fundamentalist father, who favored the defendants.
Reviews
The New York Times reviewer Charles McGrath recommended The Devil in Dover as a starting place to study... the great American tradition of anti-intellectualism, which seems to be getting stronger, not weaker, even as the country supposedly becomes better educated, and about the strange way we’re turning the court system, of all places, into a referee on scientific principles.
In the Texas Observer, Ruth Pennebaker called it an "excellent, troubling book" and added:
Reading The Devil in Dover, I saw members of my extended family, best friends from my earliest years, neighbors, shop owners, acquaintances, people I went to church and Sunday school with when I was a child, people who passed the communion tray to me once a month when we all knelt at the altar. ...
I love many of those people, and I know they love me. But our hearts harden toward one another on issues like evolution, intellectual freedom, science, and tolerance toward different views and people.
In an article in the Columbia Journalism Review
Columbia Journalism Review
The Columbia Journalism Review is an American magazine for professional journalists published bimonthly by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961....
on the "religion beat," Tim Townsend praised the book for giving readers a feeling of what it was like leading up to the trial and immediately afterwards, but criticized it for having unnecessary subplots about Lebo's personal experiences with her father and her own beliefs.
The Patriot-News
The Patriot-News
The Patriot-News is the largest daily newspaper serving the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania metropolitan area. In 2005, the newspaper was ranked in the top 100 in daily/Sunday circulation in the United States...
in Harrisburg took the opposite tack, saying "This is the fourth book about the Dover case, but Lebo avoids the problems of her predecessors, who didn't know the territory as well and sometimes bogged down in courtroom testimony"
See also
- Intelligent DesignIntelligent designIntelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
- Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School DistrictKitzmiller v. Dover Area School DistrictTammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al. was the first direct challenge brought in the United States federal courts testing a public school district policy that required the teaching of intelligent design...
- Lauri LeboLauri LeboLauri Lebo is an author, radio station owner and reporter from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Working for the York Daily Record, Lebo was the principal local reporter covering Kitzmiller v...
- York Daily RecordYork Daily RecordThe York Daily Record/York Sunday News is a morning newspaper that serves York, Pennsylvania.The paper, printed in a broadsheet format, is published seven days a week...
Further reading
- Edward HumesEdward Humes-Biography:Humes was born in Philadelphia and attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. In 1985 he moved to Southern California.In 1989 he received the Pulitzer Prize for specialized reporting for several investigative stories he wrote about the United States military...
, 2007. Monkey Girl. Jonathan Cape. Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul. The first book account of the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School DistrictKitzmiller v. Dover Area School DistrictTammy Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District, et al. was the first direct challenge brought in the United States federal courts testing a public school district policy that required the teaching of intelligent design...
trial, focusing on the case itself.
- Matthew ChapmanMatthew Chapman (author)Matthew Chapman is an English journalist, screenwriter, and director. His latest film, The Ledge, which he wrote and directed, stars Charlie Hunnam, Liv Tyler, Terrence Howard, and Patrick Wilson. It was shot in Louisiana in spring 2010 and was accepted into the main competition at Sundance 2011....
, 2007. 40 Days & 40 Nights. Harper Collins. A great-great-grandson of Darwin reflects on the "Dover monkey trial".