An important work on an important figure, despite its reflection of the built-in prejudice of the biographer, who served as...
An exhaustive and affectionate, albeit admittedly biased, account of the life and legal work of one of the nation's greatest jurists.
As Gunther correctly points out, although biographies of Supreme Court justices abound, very little attention is paid to the judges of the country's lower courts. Only a handful of these men and women become widely known or achieve lasting fame. An exception is Billings Learned Hand (1872-1961), arguably the greatest United States judge never to sit on the highest court. Yet he had, as a judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (covering New York), a far greater impact upon the law than many who served on the more august body. Using, for the first time, the voluminous private papers of Hand (at the request of the judge's son-in-law), Gunther, a noted constitutional scholar at Stanford University, delves deeply into the life of this remarkable individual. Born in Albany to a family that could trace its roots to the Mayflower, Hand attended Harvard College, then "drifted'' into Harvard Law School (he originally wanted to be a philosopher). After graduating he practiced law in his home town but eventually gravitated to Wall Street. Appointed to the federal bench in 1909 as a district court judge, Hand would decide one of the most influential free speech cases ever, the Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten decision of 1917, in which he protected dissident speech. He became an appellate judge in 1924 (eventually becoming chief judge) and quickly achieved prominence in American legal thought. He retired in 1951, after fighting against Cold War hysteria and McCarthyism from the bench. Former Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell provides a foreword.
An important work on an important figure, despite its reflection of the built-in prejudice of the biographer, who served as Hand's law clerk.Pub Date: May 2, 1994
ISBN: 0-394-58807-X
Page Count: 866
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1994
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK TO SCREEN
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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
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