Next book

JUSTICE FOR WARDS COVE

An outstandingly methodical commentary on the American legal system and its political components.

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT

An exhaustive account focuses on one of the most contentious court cases in U.S. history.

A federal class-action suit was filed in 1974—Wards Cove Packing Company v. Atonio—which complained that racial discrimination was pervasive in the Alaskan salmon canning industry. That suit turned out to be one of the longest running ever, spanning 27 years until a final appellate decision was issued in 2001. Debut author Fryer served as the lead counsel for Wards Cove and its partner, Bumble Bee Seafoods, for the entire duration of the litigation and recounts the various details. The principal facts themselves were never in dispute—there was a considerable number of minorities in low-paying positions, while whites largely dominated the ones that promised more impressive compensation. Thus, the case became the ring for an extended fight over how precisely to classify job discrimination and what the role of the federal government is in combating it. Once the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the defendant in 1989, the battle shifted to the other two branches of government, providing a historical exemplar of the separation of powers at work. A significant piece of new civil rights legislation in 1991 was largely a response to that Supreme Court result: “The major impetus behind the movement to pass the legislation stemmed from unhappiness with the Supreme Court’s decision in Wards Cove dealing with the burden of proof, causation, and the defense of a reasonable business justification.” The author cites the specifics of the case with extraordinary clarity and precision. Fryer’s work is both brisk and panoramic—he explores the history of the canning industry in Alaska, examines the unfurling of civil rights legislation in the U.S., and finds a pertinent place for a minibiography of Justice John Paul Stevens, to name a small representative sample of his delightfully germane detours. The author is never shy about recording his own opinions—unavoidable given that he was not only a participant, but also a partisan in the legal war—but he always issues them with a heavy dose of humble circumspection. The legalistic technicalities will likely turn off some readers, but the book is still, in the main, a reasonably accessible one.

An outstandingly methodical commentary on the American legal system and its political components. 

Pub Date: July 16, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-5144-7709-0

Page Count: 322

Publisher: Xlibris

Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017

Categories:
Next book

NUTCRACKER

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:
Next book

THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...

Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").

Pub Date: May 15, 1972

ISBN: 0205632645

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

Categories:
Close Quickview