Reviews: (by author)

Kidd, Ronald . Monkey Town : The Summer of the Scopes Trial. New York : Simon and Schuster, 2006. $15.95. ISBN 1-4169-0572-3. 260 pp.

It's 1925, a hot summer in sleepy Dayton , Tennessee and not much is going on. At Frances Robinson's father's drug store, a lot of Coca Cola is being served. To stir up the economy by getting publicity for the town, the elders convince John Scopes, a local teacher, to challenge the state law against teaching evolution in school. Ironically, Scopes was actually an athletics teacher and was only substituting for the biology teacher when a chain of events erupted far beyond anyone's original intention. Great public men, William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow came to argue for and against prosecution, respectively. H.L. Mencken, the most biting humorist of the time (like Jon Stewart now), mocked the town in widely-read print, so it did achieve major notoriety. But the trial backfired on the town in many ways. It became a laughingstock, to wit--the nickname " Monkey Town ."

I am assuming the reader has some background in that famous "Trial of the Century," most likely from seeing the excellent movie Inherit the Wind, or from reading the equally excellent play of the same name. Scopes was found guilty of breaking the law and fined $100, after a whole lot of memorable and probing courtroom drama. That Bryan died shortly after the trial adds to the pathos.

Kidd brings mainly actual historical characters to life with skill and depth .The story is told first person in the voice of 15-year old Frances , who has a crush on Scopes. Kidd handles this delicately, but uses the close relationship as a means of getting readers not only into Frances ' mind but into Scopes' mind too. He tells Frances what he's thinking as his trial proceeds. Frances has doubts, too; naturally, there's a lot of doubt and conflict in this book, from the towering exchanges between Bryan and Darrow to the cool conflict between Frances and her best friend. There's doubting and ambiguity within and among many of the characters, including Frances and her father, and Frances and H.L. Mencken, lending dimension and complexity to the fictionalization. It's a novel that's well researched and authentic. In his "Author's Note" at back, Kidd describes his research and also explains his access to the real Frances Robinson. In reality she was 8-years old, not 15 at the time of the trial. But Kidd's decision to advance her in age works well, for he needs a teen-aged protagonist capable of some serious thinking, some serious emotion, and some serious relationships.

The characters, the setting, the outstanding prose all come together in what I think is as fine an historical novel as Rifles for Watie or Johnny Tremain. They won awards, and likely this book will, too.

It also has an excellent collaged cover.

A. Allison, October 2006

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