In July 2023, I was able to remove an item from my life bucket list. Traveling through the South after attending a wedding and a stop in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I made a short side trip to Dayton, where the trial of John Scopes took place in 1925. History has named it “The Scopes Monkey Trial,” but the actual charge was teaching evolution in a public school, which was in violation of the Butler Act, a law passed by the Tennessee legislature.

Dayton is a very small town, far off the interstate, and the courthouse is unremarkable. It is similar to buildings found in many communities across America, with a large open room on the second floor of an edifice that includes several government offices on the main floor. In Dayton, the only acknowledgement of the trial that mesmerized the world are statues of William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, the headlining legal combatants. In the basement of the courthouse is a small museum.

"The Scopes trial remains an important case in American history, simply because the issues it raised are still being argued across our country. KEEPING THE FAITH could not have been published at a more appropriate time."

My interest in this case has been longstanding. It began when I came upon a complete transcript of the trial in the library of the National Judicial College. From there, I began reading biographies of Darrow and Bryan and numerous accounts. I watched the film Inherit the Wind, as well as the play that ends far differently from the movie. Upon learning that KEEPING THE FAITH would be published this summer, I immediately asked to review it. It is a brilliant recounting of the trial but is far more than that. Brenda Wineapple’s book reminds us not only of the past, but also of the present; once again, people in our country show no reluctance to preach religion while at the same time are hesitant to practice it.

Before KEEPING THE FAITH tells the story of the trial, it provides readers with important historical background. All the main characters’ lives are placed in the context of the case. Darrow and Bryan were no strangers to each other; their lives had intersected before their big showdown, and occasionally they found themselves on the same side of political battles. The trial brought Darrow out of a short-lived retirement, and he would remain active in legal issues until his death in 1938. Bryan would pass away within a week of the trial’s conclusion. Ironically, his death meant that he was spared much of the post-trial satire and scorn that was headed his way. Scopes, who came to Dayton to coach high school football and was not even a biology teacher, rarely discussed the trial after it ended. He left teaching and stayed out of public life until publishing his memoir in 1967.

The trial accounts for less than one-third of KEEPING THE FAITH. The Dayton community had rushed it in order to be the first case testing the Butler Act. The trial began with many national journalists in attendance, and on the first morning, Judge John Raulston allowed 50 photographers in the courtroom, as well as a broadcast by The Chicago Tribune. A local minister said an opening prayer, in which he asked God to bless the judge, the jury, the attorneys and the case. This would result in a contentious battle between the prosecution and defense. Judge Raulston believed a proper solution was to invite ministers of many faiths to lead the prayer. That certainly did not satisfy the agnostic Darrow.

The verdict was a foregone conclusion after the judge refused any expert testimony on the theory of evolution. He did allow Darrow to question Bryan as an expert on the Bible, resulting in a devastating performance by Bryan. Scopes was found guilty, but the conviction was later reversed by the Tennessee Supreme Court due to a legal issue never raised during the proceedings. There were no subsequent prosecutions under the Butler Act in Tennessee.

Preparing for trial, Darrow uttered prophetic words that still describe America today: “No subject possesses the minds of men like religious bigotry and hate, and these fires are being lighted today in America.” Brenda Wineapple’s account of an American courtroom battle now a century old is vivid, well-written and captivating. The Scopes trial remains an important case in American history, simply because the issues it raised are still being argued across our country. KEEPING THE FAITH could not have been published at a more appropriate time.