Written during the McCarthy era, Inherit the Wind dramatized the infamous Scopes trial, at times shifting the focus from freedom of thought to the theory of evolution. In the twenty-first century, the play brings renewed attention to religion in politics and education, and issues of individual freedom. This book offers an in-depth examination of freedom of thought, produces a series of essays which seek to complicate and expand upon freedom of through as it relates to the play, and provides readers with contemporary perspectives on the issue.