‘Monkey Biz-ness’: Pop culture helped fan the flames of the Scopes ‘monkey trial’ 100 years ago − and ever since

The star attorneys of the Scopes trial: Clarence Darrow, left, for the defense and William Jennings Bryan for the prosecution. Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

Ask Americans about the Scopes trial, and they might have heard of it as the “trial of the century,” a showdown over teaching human evolution.

Less well known are its origins. As historian Edward J. Larson observed in “Summer for the Gods,” his Pulitzer Prize-winning book: “Like so many archetypal American events, the trial itself began as a publicity stunt.”