|
|
 |
Attorney For The Damned: Clarence Darrow In The Courtroom |
| |
|
|
Author:
C. Darrow
By Topeka Bindery
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: $46.00
Our Price: $46.00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Product Description
"Clarence Darrow [was] perhaps the most effective courtroom opponent of cant, bigotry, and special privilege that our country has produced. All of Darrow's most celebrated pleas are here--in defense of Leopold and Loeb (1924), of Lieutenant Massie (1932), of Big Bill Haywood (1907), of Thomas Scopes (1925), and of himself for attempted bribery."--The New Yorker
|
|
A Lawyer for All Seasons, 2008-12-23
Anyone considering a career as a trial lawyer should read this book. So should anyone interested in American history: Darrow the lawyer was smack in the middle of every major issue, cause, and debate in the first third of the twentieth century. The sign on his office door read "We Defend Everyone," and he lived up to that promise. Darrow defended Leopold and Loeb, argued against capital punishment, argued for the right to teach evolution in schools, represented union members, communist party members, and defendants of all stripes in all sorts of murder cases -- including several high profile capital cases in which the accused were members of minority groups. In short, he defended all those who were "damned" by the government and the public in the early twentieth century. As the closing arguments in this book demonstrate, Darrow was a great and powerful orator, a persuasive debater, the common man as brilliant philosopher, a speaker who could wax eloquent with the best of them -- and ultimately a hard-working, dedicated trial lawyer who won his cases by speaking plainly and simply to petit jurors, person to person. Many of his summations left the jurors, and everyone else in the courtroom, in tears. If you don't want your son or daughter to go to law school, don't let him or her read this book.
A Friend of the Oppressed, 2005-02-26
The 'Forward' by Justice William O. Douglas says this book contains addresses delivered to juries in criminal cases, and speeches on controversial subjects. Darrow opposed bigotry, prejudice, ignorance, and hate. He was always fighting for equal protection, due process, and a fair trial. Darrow trusted juries more than judges to protect the life and liberty of the citizen. He was also a champion of labor when unions were often regarded as illegal, and suffered from government by injunction.
The 'Introduction' by Arthur Weinberg says Darrow was an orator who played on the emotions of his listeners. But people acted mainly through emotions. Darrow's pleas always had a powerful rational basis. He also defended many causes that were unpopular at the time. Clarence Darrow was a corporate lawyer until he became an attorney for the American Railway Union and its president Eugene Victor Debs. Was it a matter of conscience (p.xxx)? This book contains an edited selection of Darrow's speeches, giving the background and the aftermath.
"Crime and Criminals" has his speech to the prisoners in the Cook County jail. Darrow contrasts the acts of the convicts to the actions of the monopolists (gas, trolley, oil). Advertisements in the newspapers are all lies. More people go to jail in hard times than in good times. Most people who go to jail are poor; they can't afford a good lawyer. There is a correlation between increased poverty and increased crime. Darrow suggests crime is a natural phenomenon, like cattle seeking a better pasture. Having a good lawyer is more important than guilt or innocence! Laws exist to protect the ruling class, not to do justice. Darrow suggests that living where there is plenty of land and a chance to make a living would result in no crime (p.14).
Although Darrow was involved in many famous trials, he may be best remembered for the Scopes Evolution Case. Thomas Scopes discussed evolution in his high-school class to challenge a new Tennessee law. The publicity made Dayton famous. The famous William Jennings Bryan, a fundamentalist, advocated these laws and volunteered to help the prosecution. [If this is all you know of Bryan, please learn more.] Darrow examined Bryan on a question of law, the jury was not present. The next day this testimony was stricken from the record. The jury found Scopes guilty. On appeal the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed this, and dismissed the case. The Tennessee constitution banned state support of a religion. Most teachers today are still controlled by state laws as to what they can teach.
In the aftermath of the trial of the McNamara brothers for bombing the Los Angeles Times Building in 1911, Darrow was accused of attempting to bribe a juror. Darrow's investigators were double agents who offered a bribe, and claimed Darrow did it. Such agent provocateurs are found in movements like labor unions. Darrow said the State had put spies and informers into his defense team. and the LA police admitted so (p.504). The man who offered bribes admitted Darrow knew nothing (p.505)! Darrow pointed out that no one's life or liberty would be safe if they could be framed-up for a crime (p.507). Darrow would get a deal if he framed-up Samuel Gompers (p.510)! The plots against Darrow show evidence of the frame-up (p.516). Darrow decided to take a plea bargain for the McNamaras before any bribes were offered (p.522)! The jury quickly found Darrow 'not guilty' (p.531). Adele Rogers St. John's "Final Verdict" provides another view of this trial. Nearby, a young Erle Stanley Gardner was beginning his legal career. Was the angel in the film "Its a Wonderful Life" named to commemorate the recently deceased Clarence Darrow?
Biography of a deeply flawed man and attorney, 2004-01-24
Contrary to the myth surrounding the "heroic" Clarence Darrow, as a fighter for the common man and downtrodden, the real Clarence Darrow was a socialist who despised the United States, its legal system, and Christianity. In actual fact, he lost his two most famous trials- Scopes, and Loeb and Leopold. He was also put on trial himself for jury tampering- bribing jurors to acquit his client. Only through the work of the greatest trial attorney of that age, Earl Rogers, was Darrow acquitted. Stories abound in Chicago legal circles about Darrow's bribery of Cook County jurors, the real secret to his "success". His personal life was a failure. If this man is your hero, you need to rethink your life.
If this guy isnt your hero he should be., 2002-03-30
Book is stunning. Makes you realize that language used to be more valued. The guy was amazing simply amazing.
Excellent, 1999-02-12
It is nice to know that in one point in our society that there was somebody whocared about the little guy, the poor,the downridden, the underdog etc.,Clarence Darrow found a cause and stuckto it like a fly on poop. It takes guts to stand up against the establishmentand never apologize for it.We need more guys like him.
|
|
Binding: School & Library Binding
Dewey Decimal Number: 349.73
EAN: 9780613911115
ISBN: 0613911113
Label: Topeka Bindery
Manufacturer: Topeka Bindery
Number Of Items: 1
Publication Date: 1989-05
Publisher: Topeka Bindery
Studio: Topeka Bindery |
|
