Summer for the Gods

The landmark history of the Scopes Trial and the battle over evolution and creation in America's schools

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History

“A riveting book.” —Frank Rich, New York Times

In the summer of 1925, the sleepy hamlet of Dayton, Tennessee, became the setting for one of the twentieth century’s most contentious courtroom dramas, pitting William Jennings Bryan and the anti-Darwinists against a teacher named John Scopes, represented by Clarence Darrow and the ACLU, in a famous debate over science, religion, and their place in public education. That trial marked the start of a battle that continues to this day in cities and states throughout the country. 

Edward Larson’s classic Summer for the Gods—winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History—is the single most authoritative account of this pivotal event and its legacies.