Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate over Science and Religion. By Edward J. Larson. (New York: BasicBooks, 1997, 2006. x, 330 pp. $18.99, ISBN 0-465-07510-X.)
Edward Larson deftly wrote a tale that illustrates one of the most deeply rooted conflicts in American society. The Scopes Trial was viewed as one of the greatest conflicts between anti-evolutionists in the rural South and supporters of scientific progress in the urban North. This is due in large part to the historical work Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the Nineteen-Twenties by Frederick Allen Lewis, and the play Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. These two works presented the view that the side representing scientific progress defeated fundamentalism in the debate between science and religion and that the fundamentalist movement ceased to exist thereafter. However, Larson used his book, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion, to point out that this was not at all the case, and that the trial was really about the underlying struggle of majoritarian democracy versus individualism. This struggle ultimately represented the troubles that Americans have when it comes to facing the rise modernity.
Larson presented the story in a narrative fashion so that the book flowed chronologically and had a clear starting point and end point. The first part of his book began outside of Dayton, Tennessee, the location of the Scopes Trial, providing background on the different individuals who would all come to have a hand in the famous case. He starts by detailing the discovery of the Piltdown man before expanding upon the history of creationist thought and the effects that the diffusion of Darwinism had on America. He then goes to the arguments that began to take shape surrounding whether or not evolution should be taught in schools. Part one ends with the
introduction of William Jennings Bryan and his efforts to initiate the creation of a law banning evolution alongside the creation of the ACLU. Part two took the reader to Dayton and focuses on the trial. It showed that the selection of Dayton, as the location of the trial, was mostly a publicity stunt organized by George Rappleyea to lift the town of Dayton out of small town obscurity. The book then progressed onto the selection of both parties counsels with Clarence Darrow, a fierce agnostic and supporter of evolution, joining the defense and William Jennings Bryan, a former secretary of state, a majoritarian, and a christian, joining the prosecution. Larson then went over the trial itself, highlighting the verbal sparring that Clarence Darrow, one of the defending lawyers for Scopes, and William Jennings Bryan, a lawyer and populist, had. Eventually, the third part of the novel began with the case being taken to the Supreme Court of Tennessee where it is decided that Scopes does not have to pay any fine, and that the law is constitutional but does not need to be enforced. Finally, it dealt with the aftermath the trial had on the nation, as well as the ideas of populism and individualism and how they have echoed through America’s history. He took multiple different story threads and weaves them together in a clear manner so that there is no confusion but only valuable insight.
Larson’s use of evidence and sources makes his account of the Scopes Trial really shine. He combed through newspapers, legal documents, archives, and biographies to develop a well rounded and coherent book. His sources are straightforward and to the point, just like his analysis, so there is no confusion over what is being argued. The trial had many moving parts to it that had to be juggled with skill and care so that no facet of it would be lost or confused. The different dimensions of the case that had to be managed were the ACLU’s disapproval of Darrow being on the case, to the town wanting to wring all the publicity they can from the event, to the
trial itself and how it dealt with the two combative sides of populism and modernity against majoritarianism and fundamentalism. Larson presented this case masterfully. His sources clearly illustrate the mood of the trial, and his analysis dug even deeper to grasp the real meaning behind it all. Larson took newspaper sources and eyewitness accounts to give a deeper sense of what it felt like to be inside the courthouse while the trial was really going on. His research allowed his analysis to hit the real meaning behind the trial harder. He does not get bogged down in discussing the case as a battle of agnosticism against religious belief, but as the rearing of conflict between the ideologies of populism and individualism
Larson demonstrated a clear understanding of the trial and the effects that it had on America. His understanding of the literature and the hindsight that he was privileged to, showed throughout the book, especially in the third section of the novel. After his lengthy discussion of the trial itself, he began to move on to the ramifications that it had. The Fundamentalists and the Modernists both claimed victory from the case, but Larson argued that they did so on two different basis. Larson claimed that works such as Inherit the Wind and Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the Nineteen-Twenties were among the ones responsible for creating the view that the trial marked the finality of fundamentalism throughout the country. Modernists claim that they showed the public that fundamentalism had met its match, and that now the entire nation had seen what a farce it is. Larson shows that the reality was actually quite different. He adequately shows through his deep research on the topic that the exact opposite is true, and that the proponents of fundamentalism stopped looking to spread their movement outward, but turned their focus inward. He argues that this led to an expansion of fundamentalist ideas and that assertions made by books, articles, and plays at the time were simply wrong and misconstrued.
Larson’s knowledge of the material and his extensive research allowed him to observe this phenomenon and look at the issue in ways that people before him were simply not able to.
Edward Larson provided a fascinating account of the Scopes Trial and readily proved that the case was not about science and religion. Through his clear and focused narrative account he provided a fact based and knowledgable story that stepped away from fiction and into the heart of the reality. This book is the definitive work on the Scopes Trial and its effects on the United States. Anyone interested in the conflict between science and religion, in the United States, should read this book.