In the border war between science and faith, the doctrine of "intelligent design" is a sly subterfuge - a marzipan confection of an idea presented in the shape of something more substantial.
Until recently, however, those scientists most qualified to defend evolutionary biology were strangely reluctant to confront these dissenters publicly. Now, in three quite different books - a collection of essays, a biography of Charles Darwin's intellectual life and a debunker's guide to the debate - some of the nation's most distinguished thinkers step forward as expert witnesses to challenge the ruse of intelligent design directly....