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Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfull book
Review: A good history of the times. I hope this book will inspire you. Eric...
Rating: 
Summary: Biography of a myth
Review: Clarence Darrow is highly over-rated as a trial attorney. Many of his verdicts in Cook County were the result of his bribes to selected jurors. He lost his most famous cases- Loeb and Leopold, and Scopes. Darrow was driven by a hardline socialist dogma, but he still represented corporations when he needed the money. Irving Stone, the author, has been revealed as a Soviet agent in the Venona transcripts. His views about Darrow are biased with his twisted view of American society. If you read this book,realize that it is not an objective biography about Darrow, but a propaganda piece instead.
Rating:
Summary: A Facinating Historical Biography
Review: Clarence Darrow was a very interesting man, however history may view him. I found this biography by Irving Stone to be very educational. Darrow was involved in some of the most famous trials around the turn of the century that defined labor laws, capital punishment laws as well as laws defining religious discrimination with the well known Scopes Evolution Case over the teaching of the Darwin theory of evolution in the classroom. This famous case known as the `Monkey' trials pitted fundamentalists against more liberal evolutionists in a landmark case that defined freedom and equality of religious teaching throughout the United States. Darrow was a defense attorney, and his viewpoint on representing a client was to simply provide the best defense possible. This did not always go with the popular opinion of society in his day, and he was often hated by many for some of the people he defended in the courtroom. I think it is notable that in many of his more famous cases and not so famous he was never paid, as he defended people who had no money. In this way he showed a compassion for his fellow man which one does not often associate with the profession of lawyers in the modern day. As I read this biography, I found myself many times not agreeing with Darrow's viewpoints and decisions to defend certain people, including the famous Loeb & Leopold Case. I marveled at his final solution to plead guilty in the defense of the McNamaras Case in 1911, a point of integrity after learning his client was truly guilty. This case cost his the support and friendship with organized labor parties after over thirty years, as well as resulted in a massive attack on him personally, but he weathered the storm and carried onward. However, I was able at the end to reflect on this man's tenacity to his own integrity to follow what he believed was right, despite popular opinion. His sense of morals were different from my own, and I would be untruthful to say I completely agreed with Darrow. I did however find myself respecting him for impact he had on our country's history, and his exposing of the industrial abuses that paralleled slave camps in the late 1800's definitely shined the light on man's inhumanity to man. All in all I found this to be a very interesting biography about a very interesting man. I think anyone interested in American history, particularly that of the history of organized labor in our country should definitely read this one. This is a great read. Darrow having been a well known public speaker in his day, delivered some of the most profound speaches inside and outside the courtroom. Many of his famous defense final arguments are still studied today in many law schools, but most notable is the fact that he delivered many of these speeches without the aide of notes or other written material. Many people who heard these speeches were included in this book, and consistently he is remembered as having really had a way of moving an audience and changing their viewpoints in doing so. Irving Stone really did his background research in compiling this book, including reading many of Darrow's own private papers, court records, interviewing people who knew Darrow and studying newspapers from the time period. I think anyone would find this book facinating from a purely historical perspective. It is too bad this book is currently out of print, but it is worth searching used book stores or searching Amazon's out-of-print services to get a copy and read it.
Rating:
Summary: Great work by a great author
Review: Okay, I'm not one to regularly demean other's comments, but sometimes silly libel has to be contended. The author Irving Stone is the well regarded writer of biographies on Jack London, Michelangelo, and Vincent van Gogh. I.F. (Isador Feinstein) Stone was a journalist and is known for being a vocal opponent to Joe McCarthy. The latter is the one mentioned in the Venona transcripts, and is an enemy to even modern right wing thinkers, for good or bad reasons. Whatever your politics on this doesn't matter. Irving Stone is not the man mentioned. I come from fundamentalist stock. I'm a conservative in politics, and very committed to my faith. Rather than being a distasteful book to me, however, this biography tells of a man who lived during a complicated era. He rejected the church, and yet in his work held up the most basic precepts of Christian thought, defending the poor, helping the helpless. This is not to say he was without his problems. And Irving Stone is not writing a hagiography, and so the reader becomes aware of his faults as well as his greatness. Stone is the master of primary documents, taking written and oral sources, as well as large amount of secondary material, and crafting these into a well told narrative. This is not a strick biography, seeking instead to envelop the reader into the story. My regard for the subject grew, despite my occasional disagreements on his stance. He stood his ground, and fought for those who were oppressed by the powers that be in that time. Darrow was also human, very human. This book is a superb introduction to the story of his life, and the era which he in many ways represented. Those interested in the early twentieth century, in culture wars, in the growth of labor movements, would benefit greatly from reading this. Such utter silliness as calling this book propaganda should be dismissed as both ignorance of the author, coupled with a hate for what Darrow did stand for. Read Stone's other books first if it helps, to see his credibility as an author and narrative biographer. Among all of those this remains my favorite, and well worth picking up, even if used.
Rating:
Summary: Great work by a great author
Review: Okay, I'm not one to regularly demean other's comments, but sometimes silly libel has to be contended. The author Irving Stone is the well regarded writer of biographies on Jack London, Michelangelo, and Vincent van Gogh. I.F. (Isador Feinstein) Stone was a journalist and is known for being a vocal opponent to Joe McCarthy. The latter is the one mentioned in the Venona transcripts, and is an enemy to even modern right wing thinkers, for good or bad reasons. Whatever your politics on this doesn't matter. Irving Stone is not the man mentioned. I come from fundamentalist stock. I'm a conservative in politics, and very committed to my faith. Rather than being a distasteful book to me, however, this biography tells of a man who lived during a complicated era. He rejected the church, and yet in his work held up the most basic precepts of Christian thought, defending the poor, helping the helpless. This is not to say he was without his problems. And Irving Stone is not writing a hagiography, and so the reader becomes aware of his faults as well as his greatness. Stone is the master of primary documents, taking written and oral sources, as well as large amount of secondary material, and crafting these into a well told narrative. This is not a strick biography, seeking instead to envelop the reader into the story. My regard for the subject grew, despite my occasional disagreements on his stance. He stood his ground, and fought for those who were oppressed by the powers that be in that time. Darrow was also human, very human. This book is a superb introduction to the story of his life, and the era which he in many ways represented. Those interested in the early twentieth century, in culture wars, in the growth of labor movements, would benefit greatly from reading this. Such utter silliness as calling this book propaganda should be dismissed as both ignorance of the author, coupled with a hate for what Darrow did stand for. Read Stone's other books first if it helps, to see his credibility as an author and narrative biographer. Among all of those this remains my favorite, and well worth picking up, even if used.
Rating:
Summary: One of the GREATEST AMERICANS and TRIAL ATTORNEYS ever
Review: This book is a good introduction to the life of Clarence Darrow. It spans all his major cases and leaves the reader with awe for a man whose ability as an attorney in the Dr. Oscar Sweet case in Detroit, Michigan in 1925 was as if God had descended heaven from Heaven to win the freedom of a black professional who was accused of murder in an America that already had witnessed the Tulsa, Oklahoma and St. Louis race riots. His defense of the poor in the anthracite coal case of 1902 and the rioters in the Haymarket case stand as models for Americans of any age. The only weakness in the book is that his addresses to juries are not included. Clarence Darrow is as important to Americans as Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were in the eras of the Civil War and the Great Depression. I recommend this book for all Americans of all ages. He was a defender of the poor and a defender of the values and ethics of American society. Elliot Spitzer, the Attorney General of the State of New York, is some ways bears resemblance to Clarence Darrow. I recommend the book highly, the reverence I have for the life of Clarence Darrow is huge only for God do I have more.
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Summary: Real Cases Explained
Review: This is the book that I would recommend for Toad to read while he is locked in prison, in the recent movie version of "Wind in the Willows," to understand why his own attorney was saying that his conduct was inexcusable when he had his day in court. Toad's temper tantrum, directed against anyone who would dare to criticize his love of motorcars, perfectly illustrates the irresponsibility of the rich which formed the basis for Clarence Darrow's defense of the young millionaire kidnappers Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr., in Chapter XI of this book. People who have been raised in an environment in which their greatest pleasures involve not getting caught indulging in them might wonder how anyone could be immature enough to believe that not getting caught would be the one thing which they could count on in whatever they did. I believe this book explains that point better than any court proceeding could. Bringing in experts to talk about the lives of those who had been expecting to con everybody by themselves is the kind of vicious circle that close contact with the law rewarded in this case by letting the defendants live instead of facing a decreed execution. This reminds me of a joke about professional courtesy, lawyers, and sharks, but what this book makes perfectly clear is that what a great lawyer needs is clients.
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