Excerpts: It is conceivable that, in Noah's time--say, on the day before the heavens opened and the floods descended--a complacent citizenry of Antediluvia might have sat out on its front porches, enjoying the sunset over Mount Ararat and speculating upon the probable results of the next patriarchal election, all unsuspicious of chaotic cataclysms. Under similar conditions--fair skies, a good groundwork of creature comforts, and a total...