The Monkey Trial

Starred review from January 30, 2023
Sanchez (Save the...Whale Sharks) brings a sense of immediacy to a 1925 watershed event that still echoes in American politics and discourse. Education, religion, and nascent media came together in a narrative nonfiction telling of the trial of John Scopes, a Dayton, Tenn., educator who taught Darwin’s theory of evolution, violating a state law that criminalized such actions. Scopes had been asked to “stand for a test case” by local businessmen hoping to profit from national attention around the engineered trial. The ordeal pitted the American Civil Liberties Union, which sought to defend educators prosecuted under the law, against fundamentalist Christians concerned about the impact of teaching evolution in lieu of creation. Through photographs and conversational prose, Sanchez shows how sleepy Dayton became a “circus,” experiencing throngs of visitors, chimpanzees promoting local businesses, and crowds eager for the main event: a highly publicized courtroom face-off between defense lawyer Clarence Darrow and prosecuting lawyer William Jennings Bryan, both previously regarded as men of the people. “Media in the Spotlight” sections contextualize the role of newspapers, newsreels, and radio in spreading information. It’s a lively, solidly researched tale that delivers enduring truths about the lure of controversy. Ages 8–12. Agent: Regina Ryan, Regina Ryan Publishing.

Starred review from March 1, 2023

Gr 8 Up-Sanchez delivers a succinct and engaging account of the 1925 Scopes trial, the first legal battle about teaching evolution in public schools. In the early 1920s, several states passed laws that made it illegal to teach evolution, a highly contentious topic. Believing this unconstitutional, the ACLU advertised for teachers willing to be involved in a legal case against these laws. The leaders of Dayton, TN, who were worried about the town's declining economy, saw the ad and thought a big court case would bring much needed money to the town. John Scopes, a young, well-liked, substitute teacher, agreed to admit to teaching evolution and the national media descended upon the town for the trial soon after. The famed William Jennings Bryan volunteered to prosecute the case for the state pro bono while renowned attorney Clarence Darrow led the defense team, also for free. With a hotly debated controversy, new radio technology broadcasting the proceedings live, telegraph transmissions, even airplanes delivering daily film footage for newsreels, the "Monkey Trial" as it was known, captured American attention like nothing before. Sanchez deftly chronicles this dramatic case, accessibly describing the legal strategies while also focusing on the major players. Informative sidebars provide useful background on life during that time; the book is well documented with extensive source notes, bibliography, glossary, and time line. The epilogue brings the story forward with a summary of subsequent cases on evolution and touches on current debates of science versus religion. VERDICT This compelling narrative will be highly appealing to history and legal buffs. An important work, it draws parallels to current divides in American society and supports multiple academic curricula.-Karen T. Bilton

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2023
Grades 4-7 This is an especially accessible account of the 1925 Scopes affair, when a high-school biology teacher was found guilty of teaching evolution, a crime in Tennessee. The trial blew up into a sensational national news story, pitting revered political hero and Christian fundamentalist William Jennings Bryan against celebrity lawyer and rumored atheist Clarence Darrow. Readers will find extensive background information, including full-page replications of textbook pages, passages from Genesis, letters, newspaper headlines, and editorials; detailed explanations of period-media resources (newspapers, radio broadcasts, newsreels); and coverage of how the event was covered in the fully segregated African American press. The action is described in scrupulous detail, helping readers visualize the packed, smelly, sweltering courthouse and appreciate the impact of the passionate speeches and charged testimony. Archival photos appear every few pages; back matter includes a glossary, a time line, source notes, and a bibliography. The epilogue emphasizes that teaching evolution is still contested today, and links anti-evolutionists to other science deniers, including anti-vaxxers and climate-change disbelievers. This is a thoughtful, balanced, and very contemporary book.

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Starred review from December 1, 2022
With cogence aplenty for current national issues, a look at "monkeyshines" in an infamous 1925 Tennessee trial. Sanchez expertly sifts a mountain of documentary evidence to present a coherent account of the event--which ballooned from a publicity stunt instigated by local businessmen to a "circus" featuring squads of lawyers, herds of reporters, hordes of spectators, and even a few trained chimpanzees--and to evenhandedly portray the profound clash of values it exposed. She carefully analyzes the characters of John Scopes, a na�ve but intelligent and ultimately disaffected substitute teacher, and charismatic populist William Jennings Bryan, among other figures. She explains why all the jurors and other participants were White (and male) but notes some people of color among the crowds of spectators. Along with a generous array of contemporary photos, she also inserts substantial extracts from the high school biology textbook Scopes used--which, it turns out, promoted racist eugenics as well as evolutionary theory--and from the book of Genesis as well as scorching commentary from observers like H.L. Mencken and W.E.B. Du Bois. And if readers aren't drawn in by the compelling views of courtroom battles and strategy, they will be absorbed by the issues of scientific versus religious truth, of rights to free speech, and divisive regionalism that motivated all the ruckus, being as contentious today as ever. As the author, mulling the question of "Who won the Monkey Trial?" concludes: "The jury is still out." Perceptive, well written and reasoned, and (unfortunately) at least as topical as ever. (author's note, glossary, timeline, source notes, bibliography, annotated resources for young readers, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 11-14)

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