George H. Shriver Lecture in Religion in American History Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Religion and the American Nation |
2003 |
Buy |
| The Protestant Voice in American Pluralism |
2004 |
Buy |
| The Creation-Evolution Debate |
2008 |
Buy |
| Religion Enters the Academy |
2011 |
Buy |
| The Faiths of the Postwar Presidents |
2012 |
Buy |
| Urban Origins of American Judaism |
2014 |
Buy |
| Of Gods and Games |
2016 |
Buy |
| An Uncommon Faith |
2018 |
Buy |
| Southern Religion in the World |
2019 |
Buy |
| Appalachian Mountain Christianity |
2024 |
Buy |
Modern Library Chronicles Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| California |
1980 |
Buy |
| Communism |
1994 |
Buy |
| London |
1995 |
Buy |
| The Balkans |
2000 |
Buy |
| The German Empire |
2000 |
Buy |
| The Catholic Church |
2001 |
Buy |
| Peoples and Empires |
2001 |
Buy |
| Hitler and the Holocaust |
2001 |
Buy |
| Law in America |
2002 |
Buy |
| The American Revolution |
2002 |
Buy |
| Inventing Japan |
2003 |
Buy |
| The Americas |
2003 |
Buy |
| The Boys’ Crusade |
2003 |
Buy |
| The Reformation |
2003 |
Buy |
| The Company |
2003 |
Buy |
| The Age of Shakespeare |
2004 |
Buy |
| The Age of Napoleon |
2004 |
Buy |
| Infinite Ascent |
2004 |
Buy |
| Evolution |
2004 |
Buy |
| Nazism and War |
2004 |
Buy |
| The City |
2005 |
Buy |
| A Short History of Medicine |
2006 |
Buy |
| Storm from the East |
2006 |
Buy |
| Baseball |
2006 |
Buy |
| The Hellenistic Age |
2007 |
Buy |
| Prehistory |
2007 |
Buy |
| The Renaissance |
2007 |
Buy |
| Islam |
2007 |
Buy |
| The Christian World |
2008 |
Buy |
| Dangerous Games |
2008 |
Buy |
| The Romantic Revolution |
2010 |
Buy |
| The Korean War |
2010 |
Buy |
Non-Fiction#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Evolution’s Workshop: God & Science on the Galápagos Islands |
1965 |
Buy |
| Trial & Error: The American Controversy over Creation & Evolution |
1985 |
Buy |
| Sex, Race, and Science: Eugenics in the Deep South |
1995 |
Buy |
| A Different Death: Euthanasia and the Christian Tradition |
1998 |
Buy |
| The Scopes Trial: A Photographic History |
2000 |
Buy |
| The History of Science and Religion in the Western Tradition: An Encyclopedia |
2000 |
Buy |
| The Theory of Evolution: A History of Controversy |
2001 |
Buy |
| Property: Cases and Materials |
2004 |
Buy |
| The Constitutional Convention |
2005 |
Buy |
| A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America’s First Presidential Campaign |
2007 |
Buy |
| The Panda’s Black Box: Opening Up the Intelligent Design Controversy |
2007 |
Buy |
| An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science |
2011 |
Buy |
| The Return of George Washington: Uniting the States, 1783-1789 |
2014 |
Buy |
| George Washington, Nationalist |
2016 |
Buy |
| On Faith and Science |
2017 |
Buy |
| To the Edges of the Earth: 1909, the Race for the Three Poles, and the Climax of the Age of Exploration |
2018 |
Buy |
| Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership |
2020 |
Buy |
| Unchecked and Imbalanced |
2020 |
Buy |
| Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion |
2020 |
Buy |
| American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of a Nation, 1765-1795 |
2023 |
Buy |
| Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters |
2025 |
Buy |
Edward J. Larson is a historian and legal scholar whose books cover the places where science, religion, law, and politics overlap in American life. He won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1998 for Summer for the Gods, which examined the Scopes Trial and its lasting effects on the creation-evolution debate.
Larson’s other work ranges from the founding era (The Return of George Washington, Franklin & Washington, American Inheritance) to polar exploration (An Empire of Ice, To the Edges of the Earth) to the history of eugenics in the American South (Sex, Race, and Science). He has also contributed to multi-author academic series including the George H. Shriver Lecture in Religion in American History and the Modern Library Chronicles.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books has Edward J. Larson written?
Edward J. Larson has written 63 books across three series.
What was Edward J. Larson's first book?
Edward J. Larson’s first book is Evolution’s Workshop: God & Science on the Galápagos Islands, published in 1965.
What is Edward J. Larson best known for?
Larson won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1998 for Summer for the Gods, his account of the 1925 Scopes ‘Monkey Trial.’ He has also written about George Washington, polar exploration, and the science-religion debate.