3 comments about Crimes Against Humanity: A Historical Perspective.

1. Ricci's CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY is an essential read for anyone with a relative, friend, or client who suffers from mental retardation. Holding nothing back, Ricci recounts the horrendously inhumane conditions of Belchertown State School in Massachusetts during the 1950s and '60s, his formation of an advocacy group to support the retarded and their families, and a 20-year landmark federal court class-action suit to secure rights and protections for mentally retarded citizens. A work of courage, persistence, and faith.



2. This important work is an unvarnished first-person account of one man's lifelong battle to secure rights for the mentally retarded citizens of Massachusetts. With no holds barred, Ricci chronicles the plight of the mentally retarded in Massachusetts during the second half of the twentieth century. In a style reflective of his unrelenting advocacy, Ricci recounts the painful decision he and his wife made to place their six-year-old son at Belchertown State School in the 1950s, the horrific medieval conditions he discovered and exposed in that institution, his founding of Advocacy Network, that organization's fight against uncaring state bureaucrats, and their hard-won, landmark federal court order to improve the lives of the mentally retarded. Crimes Against Humanity is a must-read for anyone with a social conscience.



3. This important work is an unvarnished first-person account of one man's lifelong battle to secure rights for the mentally retarded citizens of Massachusetts. With no holds barred, Ricci chronicles the plight of the mentally retarded in Massachusetts during the second half of the twentieth century. In a style reflective of his unrelenting advocacy, Ricci recounts the painful decision he and his wife made to place their six-year-old son at Belchertown State School in the 1950s, the horrific medieval conditions he discovered and exposed in that institution, his founding of Advocacy Network, that organization's fight against uncaring state bureaucrats, and their hard-won, landmark federal court order to improve the lives of the mentally retarded. Crimes Against Humanity is a must-read for anyone with a social conscience.

2 comments about Justice Imperiled: The Anti-Nazi Lawyer Max Hirschberg in Weimar Germany (Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany).

1. Morris writes of a brave man fighting in the last years of Weimar, against an inexorably rising Nazi tide. Hirschberg deserves to be remembered as a conscientious individual who saw the Nazi menace and fought against it with all the legal means he had.
   
   The book takes us into the legal structure of Weimar justice. But it deals just as much with the unrest of Germany after World War 1. From hyperinflation to the bitterness of defeat. Familiar strands to anyone who has read German history. What is distinctive about the book is how it combine these accounts with a detailed look at the legal procedures of a now defunct state.
   
   The only problem with all of Hirschberg's travails is that he ultimately failed. He, and others, made the mistake of trying to combat Hitler under the assumption that the Nazis would obey some laws and conventions. But they did neither.



2. The minute I saw this book reviewed in the New York Law Journal I had to have it. While I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the subject matter, it's only fair to say that you are likely to get more out of it on the first read if you are a lawyer. This book was tailor made for me, I have been interested in German law, procedure and politics during the Weimar period since I was in college (long ago). I'm not an expert, but I have read extensively, including the German codes in effect at the time, and the author's research is meticulous and accurate, including the German legal terminology. If you don't know German, don't worry, because he gives both the German term and its English translation in every instance. He also provides an appendix of abbreviations with the German and English terms. The book is much more than a biography of Hirschberg. Besides an analysis of the legal system in the pre-Hitler period and a detailed discussion of Hirschberg's major political and criminal cases, the author covers the major political events of the time, including the numerous assassinations and clashes between right and left wing groups. This doesn't read like a textbook; it puts the reader right on the scene. See Adolf Hitler in a courtroom, up close, the way he really was. I found it scary. Hirschberg himself is a fascinating figure, one of the greatest trial lawyers of the time and very astute and farsighted. Since this isn't a novel, and it was the first thing we wanted to know at the office, I'll say he got out of Germany and lived a long time after the war. Unlike other lawyers who opposed Hitler in court (e.g., Hans Litten) he had his eye on the ball. While I know something about the period and the subject matter, I found I learned a lot from this book. The author's writing is well reasoned and organized, and very frankly, I couldn't put the book down. If the author had a web site, I'd congratulate him there.

No comments about The Lady and the Law - The Remarkable Life of Fanny Holzmann.

No comments about Arthur J. Goldberg: New Deal Liberal.

No comments about The 50 Most Influential Women in American Law.

2 comments about The Chief Justiceship of John Marshall, 1801-1835 (Chief Justiceships of the United States Supreme Court).

1. Let me first confess that I am the named research aide who assisted Professor Johnson on this book. But what I didn't have anything to do with was his useful organization of the caselaw into topical segments. Not only is this book a useful work for the reasons stated by the other reviewer(s), but if someone wants to know the Court's holdings over time in a number of areas, such as the law of nations or separation of powers, this is a useful book. Professor Johnson organizes the book so that a researcher may use it to glean trends on a particular topic rather than presenting a jumble of topics and leaving it up to the reader to discern the development of the law on a given issue.

   I might also note that Professor Johnson's conducted meticulous research over many years organizing Supreme Court decisions by topic in a fashion only rivaled by West Publishing.




2. For those who wish to read a biography of our greatest chief justice, this is not the book to read. For those who are interested in the jurisprudence of C.J. Marshall, this book provides an outstanding introduction. The book provides compelling, and accurate, evidence that in addition to John Marshall being a great jurist, he was also, and foremost, a founding father -- one of the few who realized the potential for our great nation. While it can be successfully argued that at times Marshall expanded the powers of the Supreme Court beyond those intended by the authors of the Constitution, the book also provides a compelling argument for the necessity of expanding those powers. Johnson successfully reasons that, where it not for Marshall's ability to occasionaly read "beyond" the strict guidelines of the Constitution, the role of judicial review (and hence our constitutional guarantees) would not exist today. Overall, an excellent study into a chief justice whose concerns where not those of partisanship -- but rather those of aiding a fledgling country through its formative years.

3 comments about Once upon a Time in Los Angeles: The Trials of Earl Rogers.

1. I have read all three of the Earl Rogers books out there I have found. "Take the witness" was very good and colorful. Earl Roger's daughter's book "final verdict" was endearing but overly sentimental.

   "One upon a time" certainly has its strength in chronologically listing Roger's major trials and the tactics used.

   The reader will be dissappointed if they are looking for much of the life outside of the courtroom of Rogers. Nevertheless, this book deserves a five star rating as it adds graciously to the very limited Rogers library. The author quotes Roger's cross examinations at length and matter of factly tells how Rogers skillfully defends his clients.




2. Once Upon A Time In Los Angeles: The Trials Of Earl Rogers by Michael Trope is an eminently readable account of a prosecutor whose Los Angeles career lasted from 1897 to 1918, and whose trials defending such notable figures as Clarence Darrow, heavyweight champion Jess Willard and United Railroad chief Patrick Calhoun contributed to his fame and celebrity. Once Upon A Time In Los Angeles is a fascinating look at the L.A. judicial system of a century past. Highly recommended for student of American legal history, as well as non-specialist general readers with an interest in the life and times of this famous lawyer, or the nature of the turn-of-the-century Los Angeles legal system he knew so well.



3. Earl Rogers's father was a preacher, and Earl would also hold an audience in rapt attention, listening to every word. His father saved souls, Earl saved men from the hangman. Earl first worked as a newspaper reporter, then learned law working for Senator Stephen M. White (another heavy drinker).

   Earl Rogers invented many of the tactics that have become common criminal law stratagem. He was the first American lawyer to use the science of ballistics, and was at the leading edge of medical forensic science. Rogers assisted in performing over 30 autopsies, and been present for 70 others. He saved one client from hanging after an exhumation failed to find a shot to the head that several eyewitnesses testified to seeing. Rogers was among the first to use charts and blackboards in the courtroom, along with scale models, to get his point across to a jury. Out of 77 important murder cases he lost only 3. He always dressed in the height of fashion to make a good impression. The practice of law was like being an actor on a stage before an audience.

   Rogers did extensive research into the background of the jurors. The practice of jury investigation was long in use by the early twentieth century; it is not a recent phenomenon. His father Lowell once rebuked him for any attempt to save a man, known by him to be guilty, by dishonest or deceptive means.

   When Clarence Darrow was indicted for bribery, Earl Rogers (who had worked for the "Merchants and Manufacturers Association") defended him. Darrow's private detective bribed a juror, was arrested, then turned state's evidence. Later this private detective claimed the payoff came from Samuel Gompers himself! Page 189 tells how this detective previously worked with the US Marshals office, then went to the District Attorney's office before working for Darrow. When this detective left his meeting with the special federal prosecutor, he carried the bribe money (p.191)! (Was this detective a double agent? Did Earl Rogers learn this from his business friends?) Roger's defense was that Darrow was in the process of negotiating a plea bargain, and a stingy Darrow would not spend all that money on a bribe when the case would not go to trial: he had no motive (p.196)! The jury said "not guilty" after just 35 minutes of deliberation. Darrow had trouble on another case, and was forced to surrender his Calif. bar license, effectively removing him from any future cases.

   As you read through these famous cases, how many of them remind you of stories seen on TV over the years? Adela R. St. Johns, eyewitness and journalist, wrote a longer and more colorful biography. Rogers could have gone on to higher national fame, except for his drinking and womanizing, Adela said. But given the scandals of Representatives, Senators, and Presidents, maybe it was only a lack of the right connections?

No comments about Henry Miller Years of Trial and Triumph, 1962-1964: The Correspondence of Henry Miller and Elmer Gertz.

No comments about The Jottings of David Daube: Reflections from the 20th Century by One of Its Foremost Legal Minds.

No comments about Thomas Ewing Jr.: Frontier Lawyer and Civil War General (Shades of Blue and Gray).