Andrew D. White (1832-1918), historian, diplomat, and first president of Cornell University, advocated such progressive causes as equal rights for women and the removal of religious sectarianism from higher education. In this important work, which spawned a great deal of controversy at its appearance, White exhaustively documents the battle between science and religion in matters of creation versus evolution, the geocentric versus the heliocentric universe, and the "fall of man" versus anthropology. The struggle of science over outmoded medieval concepts is still emerging. Even a century after its publication, White's great work has much to teach us about the dangerous effects of religious doctrinalism on education and moral growth.
