UGA Historian says Sept. 11 too recent for proper perspective

By

Posted 7:27AM on Thursday, April 11, 2002

ATHENS - The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are still too recent to judge their impact on history, according to University of Georgia historian Ed Larson. ``We are still too close to it to have sufficient perspective on it,'' Larson said Wednesday in an Honors Day speech. ``We historians should be more cautious in our judgments.'' Larson, who won a 1998 Pulitzer Prize for a book on the 1925 Scopes trial, said the attacks ``seared into our consciousness'' but they did not set America's young people on a new course the way both World Wars did. He said many Americans outside the terrorists' strike zones, such as the young students honored in Athens Wednesday, are not saying the events changed their lives in a significant way. ``The collapse of Enron replaced the collapse of the twin towers in national headlines,'' Larson said. ``We will always remember that day, the way I remember the day JFK died. Let us resolve to make the best of it, and not let it make the worst of us,'' he said. Larson's book, ``Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion,'' won the Pulitzer for history. The trial in Dayton, Tenn., over the teaching of evolution in public schools was one of the most publicized legal cases of the century and featured celebrated attorneys Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. Among the many journalists covering the trial was H.L. Mencken. Some historians have compared the impact of the 9-11 terrorist attacks to the global shake-ups seen in previous world wars. Students polled by Larson called the attack the most vivid memory of the academic year, closely followed in their minds by the Georgia Bulldogs' football victory over Tennessee. He said it is too early to tell what changes the attack will force on American society, beyond a heightened awareness of world events and a necessary emphasis on public safety.