Helpful Score: 3
"Inherit the Wind" is a powerful statement not about evolution, but the right to think. Whether you agree or disagree with the theory of evolution or have compromised between the sides, the story is a lesson worth noting. I highly recommend it.
Helpful Score: 1
this was a required book for school........had it not been i would have really enjoyed it but it has alot of good things to say
Helpful Score: 1
fabulous play, mirroring the Scopes trial, with lots of raw emotion and great characterizations. a classic. also a very quick read.
Helpful Score: 1
This play is truly amazing. My favorite next to A Midsummer Night's Dream, and possibly equal to it. I saw it performed on Broadway with Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy, and absolutely loved it, possibly due to my courtroom-drama fascination (started by To Kill a Mockingbird). It really makes you rethink some of your opinions on religion and the Bible, and there are some truly funny moments. The true scene-stealer for me was E.K. Hornbeck, the reporter, but Drummond is also very funny with his dry wit. An excellent play and one I highly recommend.
An interesting (and brief) play which fictionalizes the Scopes trial where a teacher was arrested for teaching about evolution.
A book everyone should read. Gripping and involving!
great book to read before seeing the play or movie
Back Cover Reads:
INHERIT THE WIND
The legal Battle of the Century!
The accused was a slight, frightened man who had deliberately broken the law.
His trial was a Roman circus. The chief gladiators were two great legal giants of the century.
Like two bull elephants locked in mortal combat, they bellowed and roared imprecations and abuse.
The spectators sat uneasily in the sweltering heat with murder in their hearts, barely able to restrain themselves.
At stake was the freedom of every American.
INHERIT THE WIND
The legal Battle of the Century!
The accused was a slight, frightened man who had deliberately broken the law.
His trial was a Roman circus. The chief gladiators were two great legal giants of the century.
Like two bull elephants locked in mortal combat, they bellowed and roared imprecations and abuse.
The spectators sat uneasily in the sweltering heat with murder in their hearts, barely able to restrain themselves.
At stake was the freedom of every American.
The play opened in 1955, just months before I graduated from high school. Why, I wonder, did I never hear of it? Why, also, did it never pop up years later in college? The basis for the courtroom drama is the Snopes Trial of July 1925 in Dayton, TN. All of the pomposity and inaneness of the trial are here, but there is a tongue-in-cheek approach to the dialog that makes this more about egos than about church-state separation. Did it happen? Yes! Is it settled? No! It is still being tested, in some manner, in the courts every day.
Good, good read and a reminder that there are still those who do not believe what science has taught us but thank heaven not as strongly as this tale reminds us. For those who may not remember the movie, the play or the book,, this is a tale about The Origin of the Species by Darwin and the teacher who brought it into the classroom to share with his students. He is accused of violating an obsolete law based on religious belief that defames the science of the book. Two very different lawyers battle over the concept with the country awaiting the outcome. Is man allowed to think for himself or must all thought be based on literal interpretation of the Bible?
I did not read this book, however, it is a play.
