Clarence darrow autobiography of a flea
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And the ridiculousness of punishing people for crimes as a deterrent. Darrow's and Orwell's and Roy's convictions are true.
One of the successes of Darrow's career was in persuading the Harding administration to commute Eugene V. Debs' sentence. I knew little else about him.
This was the perfect read for me as I slog through Shelby Foote's narrative history of the Civil War, Vol.
1. Through his narrative, Darrow becomes not just a lawyer but a symbol of resilience and advocacy for those marginalized by society.
In The Story of My Life, Clarence Darrow masterfully intertwines his personal narrative with broader social issues, creating a memoir that is as much about personal growth as it is about the evolution of American legal thought.
I am not one of those who fetishize militarism and the military history of battles and strategies and tactics. He shares insights into his formative experiences that ignited his passion for law and social justice, illustrating how he became a prominent figure in some of the most high-profile trials of the early 20th century.
His eloquence and wit shine through as he articulates the importance of compassion, empathy, and critical thought in the pursuit of justice.
As Darrow reflects on his interactions with clients, adversaries, and judges, readers gain a personal glimpse into the legal world of the time. This is the rarest gift, and something to which I relate very strongly.
He describes a very through understanding of astronomy and the universe. This is not a bible-thumper, yet, someone who believes in ghosts and psychics and the supernatural. Without Evolution there is no drive to find DNA, to understand its mechanisms, and a pathological (so to speak) inability to understand how viruses work. The autobiography describes what's whitewashed as "labor unrest" as nothing short of a war.
A couple other notable trials in which he was involved were the Leopold Loeb case, upon which the chilling and pretty good Hitchcock movie "Rope" was based, and the Massie trial in the territory of Hawaii - of which I'd never heard.
The story of his life itself covers maybe two thirds of the book, and the remainder is what captivated me far more.
He reflects on his upbringing, education, and the intellectual currents of his time, offering readers a deeper understanding of the man behind the legal legend.
GENRE
Biographies & Memoirs
PUBLISHER
Prabhat Prakashan Pvt.Ltd.
SELLER
Prabhat Prakashan Private Limited
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More Books by Clarence Darrow
The Story of My Life
The Story of My Life by Clarence Darrow is a compelling autobiography that chronicles the journey of one of America's most renowned lawyers and civil libertarians.
Darrow was part of the team to defend "Big Bill" Haywood, a political target of the Federal government and codefenders in a conspiracy. It is moreover a humanist meditation on justice.
The saddest part of the autobiography, to me, is its eternal optimism, its cynic's optimism; it predicts with keening insight alluded to above the end of the criminal justice system based upon our ever-increasing knowledge of the causes which lead to crime and understanding of psychology, and its replacement with a system where the underlying causes of crime have been addressed and people are treated with the utmost compassion and sympathy in legitimate efforts to address their needs.
Not believing in evolution is a lynch-pin of the United States' inability to contend with Covid-19.
I knew about Clarence Darrow from the Scopes Monkey Trial; from HL Mencken's and L Sprague de Camp's treatments of that. Not believing in evolution is not believing in gravitation, which is fine with the proviso of advanced degrees in physics, study of quantum mechanics and with it an understanding in quantum gravitation or other ideas I'll never grasp.
He dismantles both civil and criminal legal systems in the United States. Eh, goodreads is pretty good actually, maybe it is I who is the nimrod after all.
Publisher Description
The Story of My Life by Clarence Darrow: The Story of My Life is an autobiography by Clarence Darrow, a renowned American lawyer and civil libertarian.
Darrow offers a critical analysis of societal issues and shares his ideas on reform and progress.
Personal reflections and influences: Darrow provides glimpses into his personal life, discussing the events and individuals that shaped his worldview. I couldn't shake Spencer Tracy from my head reading the autobiography, about which Darrow may well have been pleased.
In tracing the origins of the Reagan revolution one must point a finger at the hippies and see those who wallowed in mud at Woodstock or the Newport Folk Festival or whatever who went on to get MBAs and unrepayable loans for BMWs in the 80s. Darrow is the culmination of the best of Enlightenment, Rationalist, Secular Humanist tradition.
Debs was a hero of mine for anti-war sentiment, when US history is pretty deaf to anti-war movements in the World Wars in the United States - and of course his role in labor.