Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion
What is the main conflict in Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion by Edward Larson?
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Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion focuses on the Scopes trial, also known as the "Monkey Trial," which happened in Dayton, Tennessee in the summer of 1925. The trial took place over a Tennessee law that banned the teaching of human evolution in public schools. The American Civil Liberties Union wanted to challenge the law, and a young teacher named John Scopes, agreed to help them. The so-called "trial of the century" brought together the famed politician and orator, William Jennings Bryan, who led the anti-evolution crusade; and Clarence Darrow, who was regarded as the best criminal defense lawyer of the time. The two men, along with their respective counsels, went head to head in the trail with the prosecution eventually able to uphold the law.