Overview

“Brenda Wineapple’s wonderful account of the Scopes trial sheds light not only on the battles of the past but on the struggles of the present.”—Jon Meacham   “History at its most delicious.”—The New York Times Book Review (front page review, Editors’ Choice) The dramatic story of the 1925 Scopes trial, which captivated the nation and exposed profound divisions in America that still resonate today—divisions over the meaning of freedom, religion, education, censorship, and civil liberties in a democracy “Propulsive . . . a terrific story about a pivotal moment in our history.”—Ken Burns “No subject possesses the minds of men like religious bigotry and hate, and these fires are being lighted today in America.” So said legendary attorney Clarence Darrow as hundreds of people descended on the sleepy town of Dayton, Tennessee, for the trial of a schoolteacher named John T. Scopes, who was charged with breaking the law by teaching evolution to his biology class in a public school. Brenda Wineapple, the award-winning author of The Impeachers, explores how and why the Scopes trial quickly seemed a circus-like media sensation, drawing massive crowds and worldwide attention. Darrow, a brilliant and controversial lawyer, said in his electrifying defense of Scopes that people should be free to think, worship, and learn. William Jennings Bryan, three-time Democratic nominee for president, argued for the prosecution that evolution undermined the fundamental, literal truth of the Bible and created a society without morals, meaning, and hope. In Keeping the Faith, Wineapple takes us into the early years of the twentieth century—years of racism, intolerance, and world war—to illuminate, through this pivotal legal showdown, a seismic period in American history. At its heart, the Scopes trial dramatized conflicts over many of the fundamental values that define America, and that continue to divide Americans today.

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Reviews

“Captivating . . . Keeping the Faith is history at its most delicious, presented free from the musty smell of the archives where it was clearly assembled with great care. And if you have been awake for the past 16 years or so, you won’t miss the point. The struggles of yesteryear between reason and ignorance do not merely illuminate those of the present. They are the same struggle. This is a story from a past that isn’t even past.”—The New York Times “A briskly told chronicle by Brenda Wineapple, who has a knack for producing popular histories with contemporary resonance.”—The New Yorker “[A] gripping and expansive reexamination of the Scopes Monkey Trial . . . This historical investigation pulses with urgency.”—Publishers Weekly “The notorious ‘monkey trial’ in expert hands.”—Kirkus Reviews “A brilliant account of the Scopes trial, as fair-minded as it is well written, as compelling as it is richly detailed—and as relevant to today’s America as it is faithful to the America of a century ago.”—Geoffrey C. Ward, author of A First-Class Temperament “It has everything—the clash of science and faith, dueling celebrity lawyers, intense media interest. Brenda Wineapple’s wonderful account sheds light not only on the battles of the past but on the unfolding struggles of the urgent present.”—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of And There Was Light “In Brenda Wineapple’s hands, a century-old event opens a window on our country today, when the impulse to label certain ideas as too dangerous to be taught is as powerful now as it was when Tennessee made it a crime to teach about evolution.”—Linda Greenhouse, Pulitzer Prize–winning legal journalist “Brenda Wineapple brings to compelling life the extravaganza that was the Scopes trial, as well as Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, its jousting antagonists. She recounts a battle about science, religion, truth, and freedom of thought that seems much closer than a century ago.”—Drew Gilpin Faust, New York Times bestselling author of Necessary Trouble “In this propulsive account of the 1925 Scopes trial, Wineapple exposes fault lines in America that continue to haunt us today. Darrow and Bryan emerge as complicated and fascinating characters who embody different versions of American democracy.”—Ken Burns “‘Democracy was on trial,’ Wineapple writes—then as now. A master of historical narrative, she has given us a bracing and illuminating tale for our own troubled times.”—Evan Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Road to Surrender “Much of what we think we know about the famous Scopes trial, we don’t. Our misconceptions need correction—and there is no better corrector than Brenda Wineapple.”—Garry Wills, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Lincoln at Gettysburg

“It had everything—the clash of science and faith, dueling celebrity lawyers, intense media interest. The Scopes trial remains resonant in our own time, and Brenda Wineapple’s wonderful account of how tiny Dayton, Tennessee, became the site of a vital skirmish in the wars of modernity sheds light not only on the battles of the past but on the unfolding struggles of the urgent present.”—Jon Meacham “In this propulsive account of the 1925 Scopes trial, Wineapple documents the antecedents that led to it and how the trial exposed fault lines in America that continue to haunt us. Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan emerge as complicated and fascinating characters who embody different versions of American democracy. Keeping The Faith is a terrific story about a pivotal moment in our history and a book that illuminates the conflicts we are seeing in our country today.”—Ken Burns “Much of what we think we know about the famous ‘Scopes trial,’ we don't. Our misconceptions need correction; and there is no better corrector than Brenda Wineapple.”—Garry Wills, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lincoln at Gettysburg and What the Qur’an Meant “Brenda Wineapple makes the most of a magnificent cast—Clarence Darrow, William Jennings Bryan, H.L. Mencken—to bring to life a drama that captivated the nation a century ago. ‘Democracy was on trial,’ she writes—then as now. A master of historical narrative, Wineapple has given us a bracing and illuminating tale for our own troubled times.”—Evan Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Road to Surrender “Brenda Wineapple brings the past to life with her compelling rendition of the extravaganza that was the Scopes Trial and with her vivid portraits of Darrow and Bryan, its jousting antagonists. But her book speaks chillingly to the present as well as she recounts a battle about science, religion, truth, and freedom of thought that seems much closer than a century ago.”—Drew Gilpin Faust, New York Times bestselling author of Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury “Keeping the Faith is a brilliant account of the Scopes trial, as fair minded as it is well-written, as compelling as it is richly detailed—and as relevant to today’s America as it is faithful to the America of a century ago. [The] vivid, nuanced portraits of its two great protagonists, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, are unforgettable.”—Geoffrey C. Ward, author of A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt

“It had everything—the clash of science and faith, dueling celebrity lawyers, intense media interest. The Scopes trial remains resonant in our own time, and Brenda Wineapple’s wonderful account of how tiny Dayton, Tennessee, became the site of a vital skirmish in the wars of modernity sheds light not only on the battles of the past but on the unfolding struggles of the urgent present.”—Jon Meacham “In this propulsive account of the 1925 Scopes trial, Wineapple documents the antecedents that led to it and how the trial exposed fault lines in America that continue to haunt us. Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan emerge as complicated and fascinating characters who embody different versions of American democracy. Keeping The Faith is a terrific story about a pivotal moment in our history and a book that illuminates the conflicts we are seeing in our country today.”—Ken Burns

Author Information

Brenda Wineapple’s books include The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation, selected by a New York Times critic as one of the ten best nonfiction works of 2019; Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848–1877, a New York Times Notable Book; and White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. A recipient of a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Council of Learned Societies fellowship, and a Pushcart Prize, among other honors, Wineapple has also received three National Endowment Fellowships, including its Public Scholars Award. She writes regularly for such publications as The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Book Review, and The Wall Street Journal. In 2023, she was selected a Fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.

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