The Scopes Monkey Trial

Titles in the Series

Breaking the Sound Barrier:

The Story of Chuck Yeager

The Civil Rights Movement

The Cuban Missile Crisis:

The Cold War Goes Hot

The Dawn of Aviation:

The Story of the Wright Brothers

Disaster in the Indian Ocean:

Tsunami, 2004

Exploring the North Pole:

The Story of Robert Edwin Peary and Matthew Henson

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

Hurricane Katrina and the Devastation of New Orleans, 2005

An Overview of World War I

The Scopes Monkey Trial

The Sinking of the Titanic

The Story of the Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Story of the Great Depression

The Story of the Holocaust

Top Secret: The Story of the Manhattan Project

The Watergate Scandal

Copyright © 2007 by Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Printed and bound in the United States of America.

Printing        1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Whiting, Jim, 1943–

The Scopes monkey trial / by Jim Whiting.

       p. cm. — (Monumental milestones)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-58415-468-3 (library bound)

1. Scopes, John Thomas—Trials, litigation, etc. 2. Evolution—Study and teaching—Law and legislation—Tennessee—History. I. Title. II. Series.

KF224.S3W485 2006

345.73’0288—dc22

2006006100

ISBN-10: 1-58415-468-3

ISBN-13: 9781584154686

eISBN-13: 9781545749401

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jim Whiting has been a remarkably versatile and accomplished journalist, writer, editor, and photographer for more than 30 years. He has written and edited about 200 nonfiction children’s books. His subjects range from authors to zoologists and include contemporary pop icons and classical musicians, saints and scientists, emperors and explorers. Representative titles include The Life and Times of Franz Liszt, The Life and Times of Julius Caesar, Charles Schulz, Charles Darwin and the Origin of the Species, Juan Ponce de Leon, What’s So Great About Annie Oakley, and The Sinking of the Titanic. He lives in Washington State with his wife and two teenage sons.

PHOTO CREDITS: Cover, p. 6—Getty Images; pp. 1, 3, 10, 21, 24, 25, 33—Library of Congress; pp. 15, 20, 31, 34—Smithsonian Institute Archives; p. 36—Time.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This story is based on the author’s extensive research, which he believes to be accurate. Documentation of such research is contained on page 47.

The internet sites referenced herein were active as of the publication date. Due to the fleeting nature of some web sites, we cannot guarantee they will all be active when you are reading this book.

PLB

Contents

The Scopes Monkey Trial

Jim Whiting

Chapter 1The Trial of the Century

FYInfo*: Charles Darwin and the Theory of Evolution

Chapter 2The Tennis Court

FYInfo: Drugstores as Social Centers

Chapter 3The Trial Opens

FYInfo: William Jennings Bryan

Chapter 4The Defense Strikes Back

FYInfo: Clarence Darrow

Chapter 5Scopes II, III and So On

FYInfo: Inherit the Wind

Chronology

Timeline in History

Chapter Notes

Glossary

Further Reading

For Young Adults

Works Consulted

On the Internet

Index

*For Your Information

CHAPTER 1

The Trial of the Century

Civilization is on trial,¹ said one of the key figures in the courtroom, the most famous criminal defense attorney in the country.

In turn, the chief prosecutor described the defense attorney as the greatest menace present-day civilization has to deal with.²

It is the first case of its sort since we stopped trying people in America for witchcraft,³ retorted the defense attorney.

The contest . . . is a duel to the death,⁴ responded another prosecutor, a man who nearly became the president of the United States.

With so much at stake, it’s no wonder that many