Keeping the Faith

“Captivating … 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 a past that isn’t even past.”—The New York Times (front page review, Editors’ Choice)“A briskly told chronicle by Brenda Wineapple, who has a knack for producing popular histories with contemporary resonance.”—The New Yorker“If you’re eager for answers to the presidential election, start here. If you’re merely looking for gripping history … ditto.”—Chicago Tribune“Wineapple’s book provides a vivid account of how fear has always acted on our national consciousness—and a way of coming to terms with our own fractured political present… . Outstanding.”—The Atlantic“Lively … Brenda Wineapple brings to life one of the most inflamed chapters in the history of America’s culture wars.”—New York Review of Books “Brilliant … Keeping the Faith could not have been published at a more appropriate time.”—Bookreporter“No one has written a richer or more dramatic narrative of the [Scopes] trial or its leading combatants than Wineapple has in Keeping the Faith.”—The Nation“[A] welcome refresh … Wineapple writes her account with energy and drama… . By doing so, she reveals how much was at stake in the trial.”—Science“[A] gripping and expansive reexamination of the Scopes Monkey Trial …”—Publishers Weekly, starred review“The notorious ‘monkey trial’ in expert hands.”—Kirkus Reviews “A brilliant account of the Scopes trial, as fair-minded as it is well written, as compelling as it is richly detailed—and as relevant to today’s America as it is faithful to the America of a century ago.”—Geoffrey C. Ward, author of A First-Class Temperament“Brenda Wineapple’s wonderful account sheds light not only on the battles of the past but on the unfolding struggles of the urgent present.”—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of And There Was Light“In Brenda Wineapple’s hands, a century-old event opens a window on our country today, [and] the impulse to label certain ideas as too dangerous to be taught.”—Linda Greenhouse, Pulitzer Prize–winning legal journalist“[Wineapple] recounts a battle about science, religion, truth, and freedom of thought that seems much closer than a century ago.”—Drew Gilpin Faust, New York Times bestselling author of Necessary Trouble“In this propulsive account of the 1925 Scopes trial, Wineapple exposes fault lines in America that continue to haunt us today.”—Ken Burns“A master of historical narrative, [Wineapple] has given us a bracing and illuminating tale for our own troubled times.”—Evan Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Road to Surrender“Much of what we think we know about the famous Scopes trial, we don’t. Our misconceptions need correction—and there is no better corrector than Brenda Wineapple.”—Garry Wills, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Lincoln at Gettysburg

Brenda Wineapple’s books include The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation, selected by a New York Times critic as one of the ten best nonfiction works of 2019; Ecstatic Nation: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848–1877, a New York Times Notable Book; and White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. A recipient of a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Council of Learned Societies fellowship, and a Pushcart Prize, among other honors, Wineapple has also received three National Endowment Fellowships, including its Public Scholars Award. She writes regularly for such publications as The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Book Review, and The Wall Street Journal. In 2023, she was selected a Fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.