Bryan is best known today for his participation on the anti-evolution side of the famous Scopes Trial in 1925. But that was only the final episode in a remarkable career. Over the course of his life, Bryan was a Congressman, Secretary of State, one of the most popular lecturers of his day, publisher of a successful newspaper, and the Democratic nominee for president, not once, not twice, but three times. Because he dedicated himself to advocating for working Americans, especially small farmers, Bryan was known as the Great Commoner.

Sandra Opdycke, Ph.D. is an historian. She has written books about the flu epidemic of 1918, the woman suffrage movement, the WPA of the 1930s, and Bellevue Hospital, as well as a biography of Jane Addams, an historical atlas of American women’s history, and several co-authored books and articles on social policy. She worked for a number of years at Hudson River Psychiatric Center, and later taught American History and Urban History at Bard, Vassar, and Marist Colleges. She serves as an occasional lecturer at the Center for Lifetime Studies in Poughkeepsie.