{"product_id":"inherit-the-wind-isbn-9780345501035","title":"Inherit the Wind","description":"\u003cb\u003eA classic work of American theatre, based on the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, which pitted Clarence Darrow against William Jennings Bryan in defense of a schoolteacher accused of teaching the theory of evolution\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 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. One of the most moving and meaningful plays of our generation. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eInherit the Wind\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A tidal wave of a drama.\"\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eNew York World-Telegram And Sun\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee were classic Broadway scribes who knew how to crank out serious plays for thinking Americans. . . .\u003ci\u003e Inherit the Wind\u003c\/i\u003e is a perpetually prescient courtroom battle over the legality of teaching evolution. . . . We’re still arguing this case–all the way to the White House.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Powerful . . . a crackling good courtroom play . . . [that] provides two of the juiciest roles in American theater.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eCopley News Service\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“[This] historical drama . . . deserves respect.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Columbus Dispatch\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eJerome Lawrence\u003c\/b\u003e was an American playwright and author.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Edwin Lee\u003c\/b\u003e was an American playwright and lyricist.ACT ONE\u003cbr\u003e SCENE I\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eIn and around the Hillsboro Courthouse. The foreground is the actual courtroom, with jury box, judge’s bench and a scattering of trial-scarred chairs and counsel tables. The back wall of the courtroom is non-existent. On a raked level above it is the courthouse square, the Main Street and the converging streets of the town. This is not so much a literal view of Hillsboro as it is an impression of a sleepy, obscure country town about to be vigorously awakened.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eIt is important to the concept of the play that the town is visible always, looming there, as much on trial as the individual defendant. The crowd is equally important throughout, so that the court becomes a cock-pit, an arena, with the active spectators on all sides of it.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e“It is an hour after dawn on a July day that promises to be a scorcher. HOWARD, a boy of thirteen, wanders onto the courthouse lawn. He is barefoot, wearing a pair of his pa’s cut-down overalls. He carries an improvised fishing pole and a tin can. He studies the ground carefully, searching for something. A young girl’s voice calls from off-stage.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MELINDA\u003cbr\u003e (Calling sweetly)\u003cbr\u003e How-ard! (HOWARD, annoyed, turns and looks toward the voice. MELINDA, a healthy, pigtailed girl of twelve, skips on) Hello, Howard.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e (HOWARD is disinterested, continues to search the ground.)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e HOWARD\u003cbr\u003e ’Lo, Lindy.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MELINDA\u003cbr\u003e (Making conversation)\u003cbr\u003e I think it’s gonna be hotter’n yesterday. That rain last night didn’t do much good.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e HOWARD\u003cbr\u003e (Professionally)\u003cbr\u003e It brought up the worms. (Suddenly he spots one in the lawn. Swiftly he grabs for it, and holds it up proudly) Lookit this fat one!\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MELINDA\u003cbr\u003e (Shivering)\u003cbr\u003e How can you touch ’em? It makes me all goose-bumpy!\u003cbr\u003e (HOWARD dangles it in front of her face. She backs away, shuddering.)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e HOWARD\u003cbr\u003e What’re yuh skeered of? You was a worm once!\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MELINDA\u003cbr\u003e (Shocked)\u003cbr\u003e I wasn’t neither!\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e HOWARD\u003cbr\u003e You was so! When the whole world was covered with water, there was nuthin’ but worms and blobs of jelly. And you and your whole family was worms!\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MELINDA\u003cbr\u003e We was not!\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e HOWARD\u003cbr\u003e Blobs of jelly, then.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MELINDA\u003cbr\u003e Howard Blair, that’s sinful talk! I’m gonna tell my pa and he’ll make you wash your mouth out with soap!\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e HOWARD\u003cbr\u003e Ahhh, your old man’s a monkey! (MELINDA gasps. She turns indignantly and runs off.)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e HOWARD shrugs in the manner of a man-of-the-world) ’Bye, Lindy. (He deposits the worm in his tin can, and continues looking for more. RACHEL enters. She is twenty-two, pretty, but not beautiful. She wears a cotton summer dress. She carries a small composition-paper suitcase. There is a tense, distraught air about her. She may have been crying. She looks about nervously, as if she doesn’t want to be seen. When she sees HOWARD, she hesitates; then she crosses quickly downstage into the courthouse area in the hope that the boy will not notice her. But he does see RACHEL, and watches her with puzzled curiosity. Then he spots another worm, tugs it out of the ground, and holds it up, wriggling. )\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e (HOWARD addresses the worm) What do you wanta be when you grow up?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e (RACHEL stands uncertainly in the courthouse area. This is strange ground to her. Unsure, she looks about.)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e (Tentatively, calling)\u003cbr\u003e Mr. Meeker…?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e (After a pause, a door at stage right opens. MR. MEEKER, the bailiff, enters. There is no collar on his shirt; his hair is tousled, and there is shaving soap on his face, which he is wiping off with a towel as he enters.)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MEEKER\u003cbr\u003e (A little irritably)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Who is it? (Surprised) Why, hello, Rachel. ’Scuse the way I look. (He wipes the soap out of his ear. Then he notices her suitcase) Not goin’ away, are you? Excitement’s just startin’.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e (Earnestly)\u003cbr\u003e Mr. Meeker, don’t let my father know I came here.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MEEKER\u003cbr\u003e (Shrugs)\u003cbr\u003e The Reverend don’t tell me his business. Don’t know why I should tell him mine.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e I want to see Bert Cates. Is he all right?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MEEKER\u003cbr\u003e Don’t know why he shouldn’t be. I always figured the safest place in the world is a jail.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e Can I go down and see him?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MEEKER\u003cbr\u003e Ain’t a very proper place for a minister’s daughter.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e I only want to see him for a minute.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MEEKER\u003cbr\u003e Sit down, Rachel. I’ll bring him up. You can talk to him right here in the courtroom. (RACHEL sits in one of the stiff wooden chairs. MEEKER starts out, then pauses) Long as I’ve been bailiff here, we’ve never had nothin’ but drunks, vagrants, couple of chicken thieves. (A little dreamily) Our best catch was that fella from Minnesota that chopped up his wife; we had to extradite him. (Shakes his head) Seems kinda queer havin’ a schoolteacher in our jail. (Shrugs) Might improve the writin’ on the walls.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e (MEEKER goes out. Nervously, RACHEL looks around at the cold, official furnishings of the courtroom. MEEKER returns to the courtroom, followed by BERT CATES. CATES is a pale, thin young man of twenty-four. He is quiet, shy, well-mannered, not particularly good-looking. RACHEL and CATES face each other expressionlessly, without speaking. MEEKER pauses in the doorway.)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MEEKER\u003cbr\u003e I’ll leave you two alone to talk. Don’t run off, Bert.\u003cbr\u003e (MEEKER goes out. RACHEL and CATES look at each other.)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e Hello, Bert.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e Rache, I told you not to come here.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e I couldn’t help it. Nobody saw me. Mr. Meeker won’t tell. (Troubled) I keep thinking of you, locked up here—\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e (Trying to cheer her up)\u003cbr\u003e You know something funny? The food’s better than the boarding house. And you’d better not tell anybody how cool it is down there, or we’ll have a crime wave every summer.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e I stopped by your place and picked up some of your things. A clean shirt, your best tie, some handkerchiefs.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e Thanks.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e (Rushing to him)\u003cbr\u003e Bert, why don’t you tell ’em it was all a joke? Tell ’em you didn’t mean to break a law, and you won’t do it again!\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e I suppose everybody’s all steamed up about Brady coming.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e He’s coming in on a special train out of Chattanooga. Pa’s going to the station to meet him. Everybody is!\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e Strike up the band.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e Bert, it’s still not too late. Why can’t you admit you’re wrong? If the biggest man in the country—next to the President, maybe—if Matthew Harrison Brady comes here to tell the whole world how wrong you are—\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e You still think I did wrong?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e Why did you do it?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e You know why I did it. I had the book in my hand, Hunter’s Civic Biology. I opened it up, and read my sophomore science class Chapter 17, Darwin’s Origin of Species. (RACHEL starts to protest) All it says is that man wasn’t just stuck here like a geranium in a flower pot; that living comes from a long miracle, it didn’t just happen in seven days.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e There’s a law against it.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e I know that.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e Everybody says what you did is bad.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e It isn’t as simple as that. Good or bad, black or white, night or day. Do you know, at the top of the world the twilight is six months long?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e But we don’t live at the top of the world. We live in Hillsboro, and when the sun goes down, it’s dark. And why do you try to make it different? (RACHEL gets the shirt, tie, and handkerchiefs from the suitcase) Here.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e Thanks, Rache.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e RACHEL\u003cbr\u003e Why can’t you be on the right side of things?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e Your father’s side. (RACHEL starts to leave. CATES runs after her) Rache—love me!\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e (They embrace. MEEKER enters with a long-handled broom.)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MEEKER\u003cbr\u003e (Clears his throat)\u003cbr\u003e I gotta sweep.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e (RACHEL breaks away and hurries off.)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e (Calling)\u003cbr\u003e Thanks for the shirt!\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e (MEEKER, who has been sweeping impassively now stops and leans on the broom.)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MEEKER\u003cbr\u003e Imagine. Matthew Harrison Brady, comin’ here. I voted for him for President. Twice. In nineteen hundred, and again in oh-eight. Wasn’t old enough to vote for him the first time he ran. But my pa did. (Turns proudly to CATES) I seen him once. At a Chautauqua meeting in Chattanooga. (Impressed, remembering) The tent-poles shook! (CATES moves nervously) Who’s gonna be your lawyer, son?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e I don’t know yet. I wrote to that newspaper in Baltimore. They’re sending somebody.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MEEKER\u003cbr\u003e (Resumes sweeping)\u003cbr\u003e He better be loud.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e (Picking up the shirt)\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e You want me to go back down?\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e MEEKER\u003cbr\u003e No need. You can stay up here if you want.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e CATES\u003cbr\u003e (Going toward the jail)\u003cbr\u003e I’m supposed to be in jail; I’d better be in jail!\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e (MEEKER shrugs and follows CATES off. )The powerful courtroom drama in which two men wage the legal war of the century","brand":"Ballantine Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304960676069,"sku":"NP9780345501035","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780345501035.jpg?v=1767730051","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/inherit-the-wind-isbn-9780345501035","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}