BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION

In the Landmark Supreme Court Cases series, a well-crafted history of the school-desegregation cases, the main effort of civil rights activity in the early 1950s. Marshalling their information like judges balancing arguments for an opinion, the authors effectively lay out the historical context, showing how the courts were willing to shift legal grounds as the climate of public opinion changed to favor civil rights over local control. Engaging the reader by quoting many of the people involved in the struggle (including segregationists), they chronicle the tortuous progress of the cases through the court system. They insightfully analyze the factors that caused the judges to throw out a hundred years of legal precedent and follow up with a most concise account of subsequent developments. The illustrations, though few, are well chosen and captioned. A good legal history. Source notes; glossary; further reading; index. (Nonfiction. 12-16)