America on Trial: Inside the Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation - Softcover

Dershowitz, Alan M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0446694738 ISBN 13: 9780446694735

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2005

Synopsis

Renowned attorney and bestselling author Alan M. Dershowitz reveals how notable trials throughout American history have helped to shape our nation.

About this title

About the Author:

Alan M. Dershowitz is a professor at Harvard Law School and a noted appellate lawyer and columnist. He has represented such clients as Claus von Bülow, O. J. Simpson, Anatoly Shcharansky, Michael Milken, Mia Farrow, and Mike Tyson. He lectures widely on legal and religious issues, appears frequently on television and radio, and is the author of the number one bestseller Chutzpah, as well as Supreme Injustice, Reversal of Fortune, The Abuse Excuse, Just Revenge, The Genesis of Justice, The Advocate's Devil, and Reasonable Doubts: The Criminal Justice System and the O. J. Simpson Case.

From Publishers Weekly:

Harvard professor and prolific author Dershowitz takes readers on a tour through some of the most celebrated-and intriguing-cases in the U.S. during the past 300 years. He begins with the most famous case in American colonial history-the Salem witch trial, which resulted in the deaths of 19 people-and continues through the current day, with the not yet decided case of the 9/11 detainees at Guantánamo Bay. Many of the 60 or so cases are famous (the Dred Scott decision, the Rosenberg trial), but others have been forgotten. Not surprisingly, the number of cases increase as he approaches recent history, and while there are some scandalous cases from the past, the majority of headline-grabbers, such as the O.J. Simpson trial and the Jean Harris-Scarsdale Diet doctor murder, are contemporary cases. Although the book has a cursory feel at times (each case runs only about six pages), Dershowitz displays a keen sense of history to go along with his knowledge of the law: he features cases that highlight changes in American history, and he misses little. He follows a simple format: listing the basic facts of the case, then offering his critique. Regarding the current Supreme Court, for example, he says he is "angry" that in the Bush-Gore decision, the court "took it upon itself to elect anyone at all." Those curious about the history of law will find this primer a good place to start.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0446694738
• ISBN 13: 9780446694735
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 608