The Great Monkey Trial is a book on the Scopes Trial by L. Sprague de Camp, first published in hardcover by Doubleday in 1968. The book is a non-fiction account of the trial, as well as its social and political context and impact. This history of the trial was based on the archives of the A.C.L.U., assorted newspaper files, correspondence and interviews with over a dozen of those present at the trial, books and magazine articles written on the trial (including the memoirs of John T. Scopes and the official record of the trial in the Rhea County Courthouse), and a couple of visits to Dayton. The book also contains several political cartoons published at the time of the trial. Several critics have referred to the book as the definitive or comprehensive account of the Scopes Trial. Content and perspective In the preface, de Camp states that the books goal is to "tell the story of the Scopes evolution trial of 1925, at Dayton, Tennessee, as truthfully as possible." De Camp rejects previous descriptions of the trial such as "a witch hunt", "a travesty of justice", or "a deathblow to Fundamentalism." Instead, de Camp classifies the trial as one battle in a long and ongoing war between two philosophical worldviews. The first, a "theistic view", sees the world as governed by entities that are sensitive to human sentiment and are not bound by natural law in their actions. The second, a "mechanistic view", sees the world as governed by absolute and unchanging natural laws, which gods cannot affect. In summation of the trial's cultural impact, de Camp suggests that the public ridicule placed on the law by this trial may have influenced politicians against supporting other such "monkey laws". He also suggests that the trial accomplished its goal of raising public interest in evolution. In conclusion, de Camp states that the truth is always competing against many other factors in shaping public perception, but truth has the advantage of persistence. Style The book frames the trial as a militaristic conflict, frequently using terms such as skirmish and combatant. Additionally, it includes chapter titles such as "The War Cries and Banners", "The Crusade" and "The Din of Battle Rises". Each chapter has a quote at the start which holds some relevance to its contents. These include historical examples of conflict between religion and science, such as selections from Darwin's Origin of