| The Court Years, 1939 To 1975 - The Autobiography Of William O. Douglas
(1980)
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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 |
September 1980 |
| Format |
Hardcover (9.5
x
6.3
mm)
|
| Publisher |
Random House Inc (T) |
| Language |
English |
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| Product Details |
| LoC Classification |
KF8745.D6 .A28 |
| Dewey |
347.732634 |
| ISBN |
9780394492407 |
| Cover Price |
$16.95 |
| No. of Pages |
434 |
| First Edition |
No |
| Rare |
No |
|
| Notes/Review |
This second volume of Douglas' memoirs is organized by topic rather than chronologically. Although Douglas traveled widely while he was justice, none of it is mentioned here. This book, as the title implies, is about the Court.
There are sixteen chapters, some less than ten pages. The longest is about the six men who occupied the White House while Douglas was a justice, at nearly a quarter of the book. I've read biographies of the presidents up to Coolidge so only Hoover stands between me and the six in this chapter. Douglas is quite critical of most of them, and I'm looking forward to reading those biographies with these criticisms in mind.
Stories about people tend, I think, to be better than stories about events. Douglas has lots of stories about people. In addition to the presidents, we meet the other justices, the advocates who practice before the court, even the law clerks.
We get big events and big ideas, too. Desegregation, the communist witch hunts, the separation of powers, quite a bit of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments (and the Constitution is an appendix). Here and there we learn a bit how the court operates. We also get his impeachment.
I haven't read much about the Supreme Court. But after enjoying Douglas so much, I'm working up a list of other justices to read. |
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