No comments about Shaking It Rough: A Prison Memoir (Goodread Biographies).

No comments about Vegetable Seed Production.

No comments about The Rehnquist Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy (1986-2001).

1 comments about Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (Lives and Legacies Series).

1. Who better to write a short biography of Justice Holmes than the author of the virtually definitive major biography of the Justice, "Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: Law and the Inner Self." This short biography is part of Oxford's "Lives and Legacies" series. I had some concern that the book would either be so short as to not really discuss much detail about Holmes, or that it would be so simplified for a more general audience as to lose the incisive vigor of White's previous books on Holmes. Happily, neither fear was confirmed: there is plenty of meat on the skeleton and, while White takes time to explain some key legal concepts for the non-specialist, his analysis still sparkles.
   
   The book stands as a superb brief introduction to the Justice and some of his key contributions. There are eleven pages of helpful notes; some interesting photographs; a chronology; and a bibliography for further reading. Also quite helpful is the use of what White terms "sidebars," which are extended quotes from Holmes' letters and opinions, so that the reader gets a sense of Holmes writing styles. Wisely, White does not try to cram too much into this short book--he well covers OWH prior to his appointment, and limits his discussion of the Justice's Supreme Court opinions to a few areas such as free speech. He also takes aim at the Holmes as "the great dissenter" image, and explains how Frankfurther and other disciples used "The New Republic" and other publicity devices to create the "Yankee from Olympus" image we associate with OWH.
   
   There is just a tremendous amount of useful information contained within 137 pages of text. The writing flows well and is quite interesting even to those of us who have gone many rounds with the Justice. A small jewel to be sure.

3 comments about Of Men and Mountains.

1. Author: Douglas, William O. (William Orville), 1898-
   Title: Of men and mountains.
   Edition: [1st ed.]
   Publisher: New York, Harpers [1950]
   Edition Date: 1950
   Language: English
   Notes: Autobiographical.
   Physical Details: xiv, 333 p. maps (on lining papers) port. 22 cm.
   Subjects: Cascade Range.
   Wallowa Mountains (Or.)



2. An account of explorations within the tangled, rugged fastness of the Pacific Norhtwest, Of Men And Mountains is informal autobiography, deeply personal and revealing. A book of adventure and discovery, it is full of the excitement, the strength, and the exaltation that men have found in the wild.
   
   The narrative at times rises to those solitary moments when man "under conditions of grandeur that are startling can come to know both himself and God." At homelier levels it moves with authority and expertness through the accumulated lore by which man has found how to survive in the wilderness and to accommodate himself to it joyfully. But always the narrative is characterized by a freshness of observation, by a shrewd wit, and by a reverential humility that mark Justice Douglas as unmistakably of the company of Thoreau. -- from book's back cover



3. Living in Brazil, I can't remember exactly how I happened to find this book. The important aspect is that I found it, I read it and even some years later I still carry some passages in my mind, so I have to regard this book as a good one.

   It is a kind of autobiographical narrative of the youth of Mr. William O. Douglas, who later in life became a Supreme Court Judge in America.

   An interesting aspect, is that later I learned that as a Judge, Mr. Douglas would very often give shelter to the 5th. Amendment in his sentences, and by reading the book, we can sort of understand how his personality and his passion for freedom was formed many years before.

   It is a first person narrative of his early years as a child and later as young man, and we can clearly understand his respect for wildlife and independence in a human's being life.

   Recalling his early expeditions as a boy in nearby mountains, Mr. Douglas describes us the forests, rivers and rainbow-trouts of his youth. At a certain time I started to think there was too much information about trout-fishing, but we should always forgive and understand a man when he decides to tell us about his childhood. :)

   This book is not about the Supreme Court Judge, but on the contrary, it is about the poor boy who grew under the mountains and borrowed some of their magnificent dignity from them.

   I hope to read some of Mr. Douglas' Law writings one day, so I can finally understand the whole man and close this chapter. But this will still take some years, and until then, all I can say is that I have nice memories from this book. By the way, a pretty hard to find book.

2 comments about Louis Armstrong: An American Genius.

1. I was completely disapointed by this book. SInce the begining the author is only taking advantage of the trapped reader to show him how much he knows about the origins of technical jazz. There is really little about Louis and his lif per se. The author rather gives a rough background stating that little is known (he shouldn't have written a book about such a personality if little was known about him)and the few facts that he states he refutes arguing they are not true or completely true. Even refering to Louis autobiography trying to demonstrate that the artist himself was wrong in his own words.
   
   Just a well written account of Jazz origins dressed up as a Louis Armstrong Biography, maybe the only way James Lincoln Collier could sell a copy. Disguising the buyer and cheating on the reader.
   
   Strongly not recomended !!!



2. Collier did a great job! His historiography is as brilliant as ever. It seems to me that the mainstream of Jazz so-called "scholars" don't like Collier because he's got no race bias and because of his impartiality. Actually, Mr. Collier is the best American writer on the subject, as he knows musical theory and is also a fine researcher.

1 comments about Criminal Justice Pioneers in U.S. History.

1. We learn by example and the profiles in this book have much to teach us. Among the significant examples is Penny Harrington, the first woman in America to lead a major metropolitan police department. As said by police historian Dorthy Moses Schulz, "Penny Harrington is one of only a handful of people who can claim to have changed American policing forever...." The lessons learned by Penny - and the important lessons she shares with others - can be read in her highly intimate autobiography, "Triump of Spirit," which was published in 1999. Penny is not only a criminal justice pioneer, she is a shining example of a woman who beat the odds and paved the way for all women who strive for a career in law enforcement. (The reviewer is the author of "Top Cops: Profiles of Women in Command," which also profiled Penny and 12 other brave women who broke through the brass ceiling of policing.)

1 comments about The Passion of My Times: An Advocate's Fifty-Year Journey in the Civil Rights Movement.

1. William Taylor is a gifted writer and one of the great civil rights lawyers of our time. His leadership/insider view of the multiple dimensions of civil rights advocacy [data and testimony collection, Congressional hearings, the courts, regulation enforcement, executive orders, judicial appointment fights, etc.]is must reading for all, particularly people of color, women, people with disabilities, and others who still aspire to justice and the American dream.
   
   Bill McCrone, Ph.D., J.D.

2 comments about Fight Back and Win CD: My Thirty-year Fight Against Injustice--and How You Can Win Your Own Battles.

1. 
   Gloria is an inspiration she sets forth Morality, Equality, Human Rights and makes you want to stand up and FIGHT for your rights! Dont Back Down!! Let Life's lessons guide you to others awareness and resolutions!



2. I bought this book for my sister. She has five kids ( all boys) and is a elementry school teacher, so she does not have much time to read adult books. Having the book on CD let her realx and enjoy her time in the car after and before picking up the kids. She said it was very good book and was amazed at all the things Gloria Allred has over come. If I had bought her the hardcover I don't think she would have been able to enjoy the book as much as she did.

No comments about His Sacred Honor.