| Go East Young Man - The Early Years - The Autobiography Of William O. Douglas
(1974)
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| Front Cover |
Book Details |
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| Genre |
Biography; Non-Fiction |
| Subject |
Douglas, William O. (William Orville), 1898-1980; Judges - United States - Biography |
| Publication Date |
1974 |
| Format |
Hardcover |
| Publisher |
Random House |
| Language |
English |
| Extras |
Dust Jacket; Dust Jacket Cover |
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| Product Details |
| LoC Classification |
KF8745.D6 A3 |
| Dewey |
347/.73/2634 B |
| ISBN |
0394488342 |
| Country |
USA |
| No. of Pages |
493 |
| First Edition |
No |
| Rare |
No |
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| Notes/Review |
The first book of two volumes of autobiography, this covers Douglas' life up to his appointment to the Supreme Court. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, in no small part due to my political philosophy being, in large part, similar to his. He was also a big lover of the outdoors. I like a good hike, but I can't be called an outdoorsman to the same degree as him.
As any good writer does, he writes with his own distinct voice. One might expect that the voice of a Supreme Court justice might be dry and clinical but that is not the case here. He brings to life those subjects he is passionate about.
Douglas was at the center of important events in the 1930's, as head of the SEC and as an intimate of FDR. He grew up poor and fatherless, worked as a migrant laborer, and "rode the rods" with hobos and Wobblies. This background was the foundation of his views, which may best be described as anti-Establishment, with a capital E.
I perhaps enjoyed the early chapters more than the later ones, but that is my own failing rather than the author's. In the later chapters he is prone to cataloging the people he knew over his lifetime. His thumbnail sketches, sometimes just a paragraph, took me out of the flow of his story. There's nothing wrong with these little portraits, and it's undoubtedly a Good Thing to get his views on the people around him. I've come across some of these folks in other books, and expect to meet them again in my further reading.
I look forward to reading the second volume and will certainly track down at least one of his wilderness books. |
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