Brenda Wineapple Explores Present and Past in 'Keeping the Faith'

Adjunct Professor Brenda Wineapple's latest book, Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial that Riveted a Nation, explores the infamous 1925 Scopes "Monkey Trial." Published by Random House in August, the book examines the trial of John T. Scopes, a Tennessee school teacher prosecuted for teaching the theory of evolution, through the lens of America's ongoing struggles with religious fundamentalism and the teaching of science.

The Scopes trial is framed as a pivotal moment that exposed deep divisions in American society which continue to resonate in contemporary debates. "The Scopes case asks, then and now, where the country was headed, where it should be headed, and how to make it better and kinder in light of privation and prejudice and disillusionment and war," Wineapple writes in her preface.

The book provides biographical sketches of the trial's key figures, including defense attorney Clarence Darrow, prosecutor William Jennings Bryan, and reporter H. L. Mencken. It also examines the broader socio-political context of 1920s America—a time of world war, as well as rampant racism and intolerance. Wineapple's meticulous archival research and engaging prose have garnered praise from critics and fellow historians.

Keeping the Faith has also been noted for its relevance to contemporary debates surrounding the role of science in public life and education. Matthew Stewart wrote in The New York Times that "the struggles of yesteryear between reason and ignorance do not merely illuminate those of the present. They are the same struggle. This is a story from the past that isn’t even past."

In The New Yorker, Michael Luo characterized the book as “a briskly told chronicle” by a writer with “a knack for producing popular histories with contemporary resonance.” He also drew parallels between the Scopes trial and modern conflicts, observing that, in states such as Oklahoma and Louisiana, laws and mandates continue to push for greater religious influence over public education.

Brenda Wineapple is the author of several acclaimed works of nonfiction, including White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848-1877, which was named a best book of the year by The New York Times Book Review. Her previous book, The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation, was a New York Times Notable Book. She has received numerous honors, including a Pushcart Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship, and an American Council of Learned Societies fellowship. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Society of American Historians.