The plight of John T. Scopes dominated headlines for weeks, but
behind the scenes of the famous "Monkey Trial" were other dramas
hidden from public view. Now a serendipitous discovery has opened a
new window on the "Trial of the Century," enabling modern readers
to comprehend more completely the tensions that gripped a Tennessee
community--and the nation--in 1925.
Historian Marcel LaFollette was combing through unprocessed
records at the Smithsonian when she found a cache of more than
sixty never-before-published photographs taken at the Scopes trial.
Her research on these photos sheds new light on the proceedings, as
well as on the journalists and scientists who gathered for this
epic confrontation between science and tradition.
Deftly integrating text and illustrations, LaFollette takes
readers behind the scenes to witness the trial from the perspective
of science writers Watson Davis and Frank Thone, who had come to
cover the trial but became informal liaisons between defense
attorneys and the scientific community. The two
journalist-photographers observed visitors and events and even
befriended John Scopes in the years following the trial. Their
impressions offer new views of Clarence Darrow and William Jennings
Bryan and reveal the role of fascinating characters like George
Washington Rappleyea, the cocky promoter who saw the trial as a way
to bring publicity, tourists, and new business to Dayton.
These photos--trial witnesses and visiting celebrities, an
outdoor baptism service, defiant ministers assembled in front of a
Dayton church--help ground the Scopes trial in southern religion
and culture and relate it to a time and place on the cusp of
change. The notes of Davis and Thone preserve keen observations of
personalities and events, while letters between Scopes and the two
reporters in the years after the trial help illuminate the
character of an ordinary young man thrust into extraordinary
circumstances.
LaFollette weaves an engaging story of friendship, newly minted
coalitions between scientists and journalists, and acts of goodwill
in the midst of turmoil. The Scopes trial remains the consummate
metaphor for cultural combat between science and religion.
"Reframing Scopes" enables us to understand better the passions
that swept one small town and came to divide the nation.
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