Customer Reviews

William Jennings Bryan, Vol. 3: Political Puritan, 1915-1925

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This is the third and final volume of Coletta's biography of Bryan. It covers the years from 1915 to his death just after the Scopes trial in 1925. It shows that Bryan was of importance in the enactment of five constitutional amendments: the 16th, the 17th, the 18th, the 19th, and the 20th (even tho the 20th did not come to fruition till after his death). The account of the Scopes trial is carefully done, though Coletta does show some of the more glaring failings of Bryan in his duel with Darrow. A good and a bit more balanced account of that trial can be found in Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion, by Edward J. Larson (read 3 Oct 1998) (Pulitzer History prize for 1998).