THE TRIAL OF THE CENTURY
Brenda Wineapple
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, 2025
NYS Museum -- Huxley Theatre
222 Madison Avenue
Albany NY 12230
Join us for a conversation with acclaimed historian Brenda Wineapple about her new examination of the Scopes “Monkey” Trial, Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation (Aug. 2024).
“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 in 1925 as hundreds of people descended on the sleepy town of Dayton, Tennessee, for the trial of schoolteacher John T. Scopes, who was charged with breaking the law by teaching evolution to his biology class in a public school.
Cosponsored by the School of Criminal Justice’s “Justice and Multiculturalism in the 21st Century Project.”
Reviews
“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)
“Propulsive . . . a terrific story about a pivotal moment in our history.”—Ken Burns
(Photo credit Elena Seibert)