Summer for the Gods : The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion

The Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the Scopes Trial and the battle over evolution and creation in America's schools In the summer of 1925, the sleepy hamlet of Dayton, Tennessee, became the setting for one of the twentieth century's most contentious courtroom dramas, pitting William Jennings Bryan and the anti-Darwinists against a teacher named John Scopes, represented by Clarence Darrow and the ACLU, in a famous debate over science, religion, and their place in public education. That trial marked the start of a battle that continues to this day-in cities and states throughout the country. Edward Larson's classic Summer for the Gods -- winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History -- is the single most authoritative account of this pivotal event. An afterword assesses the state of the battle between creationism and evolution, and points the way to how it might potentially be resolved.

In the summer of 1925, the sleepy hamlet of Dayton, Tennessee, became the unlikely setting of one of our century’s most contentious dramas: the Scopes trial and the debate over science, religion, and their place in public education. This ”trial of the century” not only cast Dayton into the national spotlight, it epitomized America’s ongoing struggle between individual liberty and majoritarian democracy.Now, with this authoritative and engaging book, Edward J. Larson examines the many facets of the Scopes trial and shows how its enduring legacy has crossed religious, cultural, educational, and political lines.The ”Monkey Trial,” as it was playfully nicknamed, was instigated by the American Civil Liberties Union to challenge a controversial Tennessee law banning the teaching of human evolution in public schools. The Tennessee statute represented the first major victory for an intense national campaign against Darwinism, launched in the 1920s by Protestant fundamentalists and led by the famed politician and orator William Jennings Bryan. At the behest of the ACLU, a teacher named John Scopes agreed to challenge the statute, and what resulted was a trial of mythic proportions. Bryan joined the prosecutors and acclaimed criminal attorney Clarence Darrow led the defense—a dramatic legal matchup that spurred enormous media attention and later inspired the classic play Inherit the Wind.The Scopes trial marked a watershed in our national discussion of science and religion. In addition to symbolizing the clash between evolutionists and creationists, the trial helped shape the development of both popular religion and constitutional law in America, serving as a precedent for more recent legal and political battles. With new archival material from both the prosecution and the defense, paired with Larson’s keen historical and legal analysis, Summer for the Gods is poised to become a new classic on a pivotal milestone in American history.

"With this authoritative and engaging book, Edward J. Larson examines the many facets of the Scopes trial and shows how its enduring legacy has crossed religious, cultural, educational, and political lines." "The "Monkey Trial," as it was playfully nicknamed, was instigated by the American Civil Liberties Union to challenge a controversial Tennessee law banning the teaching of human evolution in public schools. The Tennessee statute represented the first major victory for an intense national campaign against Darwinism, launched in the 1920s by Protestant fundamentalists and led by the famed politician and orator William Jennings Bryan. At the behest of the ACLU, a teacher named John Scopes agreed to challenge the statute, and what resulted was a trial of mythic proportions. Bryan joined the prosecutors and acclaimed criminal attorney Clarence Darrow led the defense - a dramatic legal matchup that spurred enormous media attention and later inspired the classic play Inherit the Wind." "The Scopes trial marked a watershed in our national discussion of science and religion. In addition to symbolizing the clash between evolutionists and creationists, the trial helped shape the development of both popular religion and constitutional law in America, serving as a precedent for more recent legal and political battles."--Jacket The Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the Scopes Trial and the battle over evolution and creation in America's schools. In the summer of 1925, the sleepy hamlet of Dayton, Tennessee, became the setting for one of the twentieth century's most contentious courtroom dramas, pitting William Jennings Bryan and the anti-Darwinists against a teacher named John Scopes, represented by Clarence Darrow and the ACLU, in a famous debate over science, religion, and their place in public education. That trial marked the start of a battle that continues to this day in cities and states throughout the country. Edward Larson's classic Summer for the Gods -- winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History -- is the single most authoritative account of this pivotal event. An afterword assesses the state of the battle between creationism and evolution, and points the way to how it might potentially be resolved Frontmatter Preface (page ix) Introduction (page 3) PART I BEFORE . . . ONE Digging Up Controversy (page 11) TWO Government by the People (page 31) THREE In Defense of Individual Liberty (page 60) PART II . . . DURING . . . FOUR Choosing Sides (page 87) FIVE Jockeying for Position (page 111) SIX Preliminary Rounds (page 147) SEVEN The Trial of the Century (page 170) PART III . . . AND AFTER EIGHT The End of an Era (page 197) NINE Retelling the Tale (page 225) TEN Distant Echoes (page 247) Afterword (page 267) Notes (page 279) Index (page 319) Draws from new archival material, as well as historical and legal analysis to examine the many facets of the Scopes trial of 1925 in which the American Civil Liberties Union challenged a controversial Tennessee law banning the teaching of evolution in public schools, and considers the impact of that trial on the continuing debate between religion and science Reissued with a new preface: the Pulitzer Prize-winning book that is "quite simply the best book ever written on the Scopes Trial and its place in American history and myth."