5/8: Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation Hardcover – August 13, 2024 by Brenda Wineapple (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 6 November 2024
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
https://www.amazon.com/Keeping-Faith-Democracy-Riveted-Nation/dp/0593229924/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.JDRqUc36UiUIH3eK1_Pqbjxg6Sx8dBlH9BsLvmHdHafp_9Muk2_yEUhSCVX__F0MdOA4DhC69ktDYCzLlsPHGTcm-frb_k2Hnexz13sMaJxDWfyq4IUe0ILOyiUrFYPU_NYz6u09C36A1AtGqgDqw-0-ZLbsGdLDtipkKF2KSkk07atZvK0AX5heVgt9YYHDgNjftDlcWA5itjSpDZyEvB8zB6lDdr4CX5yJWAy-aRc.53SKRbwc3rF4M4p-RAjIj8VWAu0wIY5LjLXsK3oVBwM&qid=1730836318&sr=1-1
The dramatic story of the 1925 Scopes trial, which captivated the nation and exposed profound divisions in America that still resonate today—divisions over the meaning of freedom, religion, education, censorship, and civil liberties in a democracy
/
“No subject possesses the minds of men like religious bigotry and hate, and these fires are being lighted today in America.” So said legendary attorney Clarence Darrow as hundreds of people descended on the sleepy town of Dayton, Tennessee, for the trial of a schoolteacher named John T. Scopes, who was charged with breaking the law by teaching evolution to his biology class in a public school.
Brenda Wineapple, the award-winning author of The Impeachers,explores how and why the Scopes trial quickly seemed a circus-like media sensation, drawing massive crowds and worldwide attention. Darrow, a brilliant and controversial lawyer, said in his electrifying defense of Scopes that people should be free to think, worship, and learn. William Jennings Bryan, three-time Democratic nominee for president, argued for the prosecution that evolution undermined the fundamental, literal truth of the Bible and created a society without morals, meaning, and hope.
In Keeping the Faith, Wineapple takes us into the early years of the twentieth century—years of racism, intolerance, and world war—to illuminate, through this pivotal legal showdown, a seismic period in American history. At its heart, the Scopes trial dramatized conflicts over many of the fundamental values that define America, and that continue to divide Americans today.
1925 Trial moved outdoors because of the heatwave -- and the courthouse floor was sagging from the weight of the crowd.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is CBS Eye on the World. Here's John Batchelor. |
| 0:12.0 | Continuing my conversation with Brenda Wineapple, her new book is Keeping the Faith, God, Democracy, and the trial that riveted a nation. This is the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925. |
| 0:24.2 | We are now at the time that the principles, William Jennings Bryan, many times |
| 0:29.6 | presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, Secretary of State, famous now for advancing |
| 0:37.2 | the literal reading of the Bible, the fundamentalists, |
| 0:40.3 | what many times will be translated into evangelicals in the 21st century. |
| 0:45.5 | However, this is literal, literal reading of the Bible. |
| 0:49.3 | If it says that God created the world in six days and arrested on the seventh. They mean days. |
| 0:56.1 | They don't mean like days. They mean days. However, the opponent at this trial will be Clarence Darrow, |
| 1:03.5 | who is the most famous courtroom drama trial lawyer of the time, a man who's known as |
| 1:10.6 | taking on impossible cases and finding a good |
| 1:13.6 | outcome for the defendant. They're arriving in a town that is part of the drama. It's a stage |
| 1:20.6 | set. It's an opera. Dayton, Tennessee. Brenda tells us there are three hotels. Two of them are |
| 1:26.8 | closed. There's one Jewish family. There are three Roman, two of them are closed. |
| 1:28.9 | There's one Jewish family. |
| 1:30.6 | There are three Roman Catholic families. |
| 1:33.4 | It's dominated by Protestant Fundamental America. |
| 1:37.0 | And the Aqua Hotel is where you go when you come into town. |
| 1:38.6 | We need to meet the judge. |
| 1:42.1 | John T. Ralston, 56 years old. |
| 1:43.7 | What do we need to know about him, Brenda? |
| 1:46.4 | Thank you. Thanks. John Ralston was 56 years old. What do we need to know about him, Brenda? Thank you. Thanks. John Ralston was himself a fundamentalist. He found himself in the middle of this celebrated trial |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from John Batchelor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of John Batchelor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.