It was a big story in a small place. During the summer of 1925, the tiny hamlet of Dayton, Tennessee, became the setting for one of the most controversial trials in American history. In a move designed partly as a publicity scheme and partly as a means to test a newly enacted anti-evolution law, a young teacher named John Thomas Scopes agreed to be arrested for teaching Darwin's theory of natural selection in the public schools. The resulting courtroom show-down pitted Clarence Darrow, the brilliant trial lawyer and self-proclaimed agnostic, against Williams Jennings Bryan, three-time presidential candidate and fundamentalist Christian. For twelve days all eyes focused on Dayton as a spirited public debate unfolded." "Appearing on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Scopes trial, this book recalls that famous episode through an array of archival photographs, many never before published. Images of the circus-like atmosphere that overtook Dayton during the trial alternate with candid photos of the key players.
It was a big story in a small place. During the summer of 1925, the tiny hamlet of Dayton, Tennessee, became the setting for one of the most controversial trials in American history. In a move designed partly as a publicity scheme and partly as a means to test a newly enacted anti-evolution law, a young teacher named John Thomas Scopes agreed to be arrested for teaching Darwin's theory of natural selection in the public schools. The resulting courtroom show-down pitted Clarence Darrow, the brilliant trial lawyer and self-proclaimed agnostic, against Williams Jennings Bryan, three-time presidential candidate and fundamentalist Christian. For twelve days all eyes focused on Dayton as a spirited public debate unfolded." "Appearing on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Scopes trial, this book recalls that famous episode through an array of archival photographs, many never before published. Images of the circus-like atmosphere that overtook Dayton during the trial alternate with candid photos of the key players.