The Creationists

Why it’s on the list: Numbers’ history of American creationism — how a young-earth position that was marginal even among fundamentalists in 1900 became the default by the 1980s, traced through the specific people and institutions that did it. A lineage study, written without polemic.

Where I saw it: In the reply thread to @typesfast’s question, “What’s the best history book you’ve read?” (June 5, 2025) — a crowd-sourced list Kyle recovered by hand and saved to his Apple Note “Books To Read”; the full set of replies lives on What’s the best history book… (tweet). It was listed there as “The Creationists”.

Connections

• Evolution — the claim being argued against.
• Charles Darwin — the origin of the dispute.
• Religious Intellectualism — religion doing intellectual work, well or badly.
• Ideological Family Tree — the book is explicitly a genealogy of a position.
• What’s the best history book… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.