Wiles is an educator with more than twenty years of experience. In this essay he examines Lawrence and Lee's play as a historical work as well as apiece of thought-provoking theater.

There is a saying that comes from the Bible which states: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." Therein lies the problem of Inherit the Wind. Which version of the truth is it that one should know the version of Genesis championed by Brady and his followers or the version of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species? Is the answer to that question an either/or proposition? Or, as Drummond suggests by clamping the two books together at the close of the play, is there a way for the two different views of humankind's roots to exist side-be-side?

The early years of the twentieth century brought many sweeping technological changes that...