An in-depth look at five recent landmark court battles over the separation of church and state

Over the past two decades, federal courts have become contentious battlefields in Americas growing religious wars. Since 1989, five momentous court cases have divided communitiesand the nation. Peter Irons, a noted constitutional scholar, lawyer, and author of the bestselling May It Please the Court, delivers a compelling narrative accompanied by first-person accounts from both sides of the fight in these historic cases.

In 1989, residents of San Diego challenged a forty-three-foot-high cross in the center of a public park; 1995 brought a dispute in a Texas town over the recital of prayers at high school football games; in rural Kentucky in 1999, a lawsuit was filed against displaying the Ten Commandments in county courthouses; in 2000, a California parent challenged the words under God in his daughters daily Pledge of Allegiance. And, finally, in 2004, parents in Dover, Pennsylvania, challenged the school boards requirement that intelligent design be taught as an alternative to Darwins theory of evolution. Ironss detailed, in-depth investigation of each of these trials is followed by interviews with the people involved to provide a complete picture of the ongoing wars for the soul of America.

"Peter Irons is that rare legal scholar who, with impeccable clarity, translates the most important constitutional issues of our time into human terms."

Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the UnitedStates

"Finally, a book on the struggle for religious freedom that goes beyond the hype and the headlines . . . This is a must-read book."

Jay Sekulow, chief council, American Center for Law and Justice

An insightful and dramatic account of religious conflicts that keep America dividedfrom the acclaimed author of The Courage of Their Convictions

As the United States has become increasingly conservative, both politically and socially, in recent years, the fight between the religious right and those advocating for the separation of church and state has only intensified. As he did in The Courage of Their Convictions, award-winning author and legal expert Peter Irons combines an approachable, journalistic narrative style with intimate first-person accounts from both sides of the conflict. Set against the backdrop of American history, politics, and law, God on Trial relates the stories of six recent cases in communities that have become battlefields in America's growing religious wars.

Peter Irons, award-winning author of The Courage of Their Convictions and A People's History of the Supreme Court, among others, is professor emeritus of political science at the University of California, San Diego. A Harvard Law School graduate and civil liberties lawyer, he is a member of the Supreme Court bar.