Scores of books, hundreds of articles, and thousands of words have been written about the Scopes Trial, the lawyers who argued the case, the trial’s issues, and the community that hosted this event. Here is a list of excellent resources to begin a study of the case.
Allem, Warren. “Backgrounds on the Scopes Trial at Dayton, Tennessee.” Master’s Thesis, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1959. (Includes valuable interviews with trial participants, background on the community and trial.)
Bryan, William Jennings, and Mary Baird Bryan. The Memoirs of William Jennings Bryan. Philadelphia, Winston, 1925. (An overview of Bryan’s life, completed by his wife, including a section on the trial.)
Darrow, Clarence. The Story of My Life. New York: Scribner’s, 1932. (Contains valuable insights into Darrow’s perspective of the trial.)
de Camp, L. Sprague. The Great Monkey Trial. New York: Doubleday, 1968. (Thorough treatment of the trial, with numerous illustrations.)
Ginger, Ray. Six Days or Forever? Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes. London: Oxford University Press, 1958. (The first comprehensive examination of the trial.)
Larson, Edward J. Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate over Science and Religion. New York: Basic Books, 1997. (Won the Pulitzer Prize for History, setting the standard for research, documentation, and description of the trial.)
Mencken, H. L. A Religious Orgy in Tennessee. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House, 2006. (Opinion pieces by one of America’s leading writers at the time of the trial.)
Moore, Randy. The Scopes “Monkey Trial”—America’s Most Famous Trial and Its Ongoing Legacy. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Publishers, 2023. (A detailed, thoroughly researched, and documented investigation of the trial and its legacy.)
National Book Company. World’s Most Famous Court Trial: Tennessee Evolution Case. Dayton, TN: Bryan College, 1990 [1925, 1978]. (Transcript of the trial, with introductory notes and records of the case’s appellate record.)
Scopes, John T., and James Presley. Center of the Storm: Memoirs of John T. Scopes. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967. (Includes Scopes’s account of the trial.)
Tompkins, Jerry R., ed. D-Days at Dayton: Reflections on the Scopes Trial. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1965 (essays about the trial).
