An “insightful” and in-depth look at anti-science politics and its deadly results (Maria Konnikova, New York Times–bestselling author of The Biggest Bluff). Thomas Jefferson said, “Wherever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” But what happens when they aren’t? From climate change to vaccinations, transportation to technology, health care to defense, we are in the midst of an unprecedented expansion of scientific progress—and a simultaneous expansion of danger. At the very time we need them most, scientists and the very idea of objective knowledge are being bombarded by a vast, well-funded war on science, and the results are deadly. Whether it’s driven by identity politics, ideology, or industry, the result is an unprecedented erosion of thought in Western democracies as voters, policymakers, and justices actively ignore scientific evidence, leaving major policy decisions to be based more on the demands of the most strident voices. This compelling book investigates the historical, social, philosophical, political, and emotional reasons why evidence-based politics are in decline and authoritarian politics are once again on the rise on both left and right—and provides some compelling solutions to bring us to our collective senses, before it's too late. “If you care about attacks on climate science and the rise of authoritarianism, if you care about biased media coverage and shake-your-head political tomfoolery, this book is for you.”—The Guardian

The battle between science and religion in American popular life is as old as America itself. By the late 19th century, it had reached a fever pitch, culminating in the two-volume 1896 work A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom. The result of thirty years of research by historian and educator ANDREW DICKSON WHITE (1832-1918), a founder of Cornell University, this is White's attack on intellectually stifling religious dogma and his explication of the "conflict thesis" of outright warfare between science and religion. While scholars today generally see the situation as more nuanced, the conflict thesis remains a popular metaphor in the mind of the general public, and White's work continues to speak to us today. H.L. Mencken called this "one of the noblest monuments of American scholarship," and it will fascinate anyone who is troubled by the ongoing influence by religious authorities into secular science. In Volume I, White looks at the transformation of our understanding of the world from a primarily religious one of divine creation to a primarily scientific one informed by evolution, astronomy, and biology.

"I purpose to present an outline of the great, sacred struggle for the liberty of science — a struggle which has lasted for so many centuries, and which yet continues. A hard contest it has been; a war waged longer, with battles fiercer, with sieges more persistent, with strategy more shrewd than in any of the comparatively petty warfares of Cæsar or Napoleon or Moltke.I shall ask you to go with me through some of the most protracted sieges, and over some of the hardest-fought battle-fields of this war. We will look well at the combatants; we will listen to the battle-cries; we will note the strategy of leaders, the cut and thrust of champions, the weight of missiles, the temper of weapons."

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.