A classic work updated

I spent last night reading the updated version of Ron Numbers' classic work The Creationists. While the majority of the text has not changed from the 1992 edition, Numbers has added two new chapters - one on Intelligent Design and another on the spread of creationism outside the US.

For those that have not encountered The Creationists before, it is - without doubt - the historical examination of creationism in America. Numbers traces the roots of modern anti-evolutionism to Seventh Day Adventism, and over sixteen chapters (in the first edition) traces the interactions between young and old earth creationists, their organizations, journals, and books.

The chapter on ID offers a succinct 26 page history of the development of the movement, covering all the major players and events. It is certainly very useful as a source to send students to. Numbers also nicely highlights the dissonance between the scientific failures of ID and its public relations success.

The second new chapter, and the last one in the book, deals with the somewhat surprising expansion of creationism out of America. Numbers details the inroads creationism has been making in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Turkey, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Korea, Africa, Latin America, and within certain Jewish groups. What is interesting here is how much such expansion is not due to intelligent design (as the DI would like one to believe) but more through the efforts of evangelicals who are very much within the young earth creationist camp.  

This is one book that all students of creationism should have in their library.