🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Edward J. Larson
Edward J. Larson is a published author. He is known for writing several books that have been highly acclaimed in American history. These include the history of the Scopes Trial novel, Summer for the Gods, which won a 1998 Pulitzer Prize in History. In addition to his books, he has also penned over a hundred articles. The majority of these articles are on topics of politics, law, or science from a historical perspective. He has been published in such journals as The Nation, Nature, The Atlantic, Scientific American, The Wilson Quarterly, and Virginia Law Review. Larson is a University Professor of history and law at Pepperdine University, where he is a Hugh and Hazel Darling Chair. He resides with his family in Georgia and in California close to Los Angeles.
All Book Series by Edward J. Larson
Evolution's Workshop: God & Science on the Galápagos Islands
Series opener · book 1 of 21 · published 1965
Trial & Error: The American Controversy over Creation & Evolution
Book 2 of 21 · published 1985
Sex, Race, and Science: Eugenics in the Deep South
Book 3 of 21 · published 1995
A Different Death: Euthanasia and the Christian Tradition
Book 4 of 21 · published 1998
The Scopes Trial: A Photographic History
Book 5 of 21 · published 2000 Co-authored · Edward Caudill,Jesse Mayshark
The History of Science and Religion in the Western Tradition: An Encyclopedia
Book 6 of 21 · published 2000 Co-authored · Gary B. Ferngren
Property: Cases and Materials
Book 8 of 21 · published 2004 Co-authored · James Charles Smith,John Copeland Nagle
A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign
Book 10 of 21 · published 2007
The Panda's Black Box: Opening Up the Intelligent Design Controversy
Book 11 of 21 · published 2007 Co-authored · Jane Maienschein
An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science
Book 12 of 21 · published 2011
The Return of George Washington: Uniting the States, 1783-1789
Book 13 of 21 · published 2014
To the Edges of the Earth: 1909, the Race for the Three Poles, and the Climax of the Age of Exploration
Book 16 of 21 · published 2018
Unchecked and Imbalanced
Book 18 of 21 · published 2020 Co-authored · Michael Stokes Paulsen
Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion
Book 19 of 21 · published 2020
American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of a Nation, 1765-1795
Book 20 of 21 · published 2023
Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters
Latest in the series · book 21 of 21 · published 2025
Religion and the American Nation
Series opener · book 1 of 10 · published 2003 Co-authored · John F. Wilson
The Protestant Voice in American Pluralism
Book 2 of 10 · published 2004 Anthology · Martin E. Marty
Religion Enters the Academy
Book 4 of 10 · published 2011 Co-authored · James Turner
The Faiths of the Postwar Presidents
Book 5 of 10 · published 2012 Anthology · Martin E. Marty
Urban Origins of American Judaism
Book 6 of 10 · published 2014 Co-authored · Deborah Dash Moore
Of Gods and Games
Book 7 of 10 · published 2016 Co-authored · Mitchell G. Reddish,William J. Baker
Southern Religion in the World
Book 9 of 10 · published 2019 Co-authored · Paul Harvey
Appalachian Mountain Christianity
Latest in the series · book 10 of 10 · published 2024 Anthology · Bill J. Leonard
California
Series opener · book 1 of 33 · published 1980 Anthology · Kevin Starr
Hitler and the Holocaust
Book 8 of 33 · published 2001 Anthology · Robert S. Wistrich
The American Revolution
Book 10 of 33 · published 2002 Anthology · Gordon S. Wood
The Americas: A Hemispheric History
Book 12 of 33 · published 2003 Anthology · Felipe Fernández-Armesto
The Company
Book 15 of 33 · published 2003 Anthology · Adrian Wooldridge,John Micklethwait
The Age of Shakespeare
Book 16 of 33 · published 2004 Anthology · Frank Kermode
A Short History of Medicine
Book 22 of 33 · published 2006 Anthology · F. González-Crussí
Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment
Book 31 of 33 · published 2009 Anthology · Stephen Kotkin
The Romantic Revolution
Book 32 of 33 · published 2010 Anthology · Timothy C.W. Blanning
The Korean War
Latest in the series · book 33 of 33 · published 2010 Anthology · Bruce Cumings
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Edward J. Larson?
Edward J. Larson is a published author. He is known for writing several books that have been highly acclaimed in American history. These include the history of the Scopes Trial novel, Summer for the Gods, which won a 1998 Pulitzer Prize in History.
Which Edward J. Larson series should I start with?
The best place to start is the Modern Library Chronicles series, the earliest of Edward J. Larson's multi-book series: it opens with California (1980) and runs to 33 books across 1980–2010, ending with The Korean War (2010). Edward J. Larson's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has Edward J. Larson written?
Edward J. Larson has 64 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1965 and 2025. 43 of them belong to 2 named series — the largest being the Modern Library Chronicles series with 33 books — and 21 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Edward J. Larson's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Edward J. Larson's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Modern Library Chronicles (1980–2010, 33 books) and George H. Shriver Lecture in Religion in American History (2003–2024, 10 books).
How are Edward J. Larson's books organised into series?
This guide splits Edward J. Larson's 64 books into 2 named series and 21 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Modern Library Chronicles (33 books, 1980–2010); George H. Shriver Lecture in Religion in American History (10 books, 2003–2024).