A Wild Justice The Death and Resurrection of Capital Punishment in America [Paperback]

For two hundred years, the constitutionality of capital punishment had been axiomatic. But in 1962, Justice Arthur Goldberg and his clerk Alan Dershowitz dared to suggest otherwise, launching an underfunded band of civil rights attorneys on a quixotic crusade. In 1972, in a most unlikely victory, the Supreme Court struck down Georgias death penalty law inExplaining Furman and its implications can be tricky, but Evan Mandery& has done both with remarkable ease. Mandery knows how to tell a story, and hes done some terrific research.With a powerful story and an exceptional cast of charactersincluding Arthur Goldberg, Alan Dershowitz, and Robert Bork at their bestStarred review. It takes a gifted writer to craft a thriller out of the efforts to have capital punishment declared unconstitutional, but Mandery pulls it off in this intellectual page-turner.Starred review. Outstanding in every respect.The fascinating story of the abolition of the death penaltyand its restorationhad found its ideal narrator in Evan Mandery. At once a page turner and a work of serious scholarship,Mandery has at once written one of the very best books I have ever read not only on the Supreme Court as an institution, but also on the death penalty itself&. One keeps turning the pages in order to find out what happens next.He portrays the complex personalities behind the arguments on both sides and a court as sensitive to political tides as moral and philosophical concerns on an issue that continues to remain controversial.Mandery has written a tour de force examination of how the U.S. Supreme Court from 1963 to 1977 ruled on death penalty issues&this book is revelatory. Unlike Bob WoodwardsIf someone described a book about the Supreme Courts decisions to strike down and then reinstate the death penalty as thrilling, would you believe her? You should; thats exactly whatMandery has managed to turn textbook-style legal history into cinematic scenes with memorable characterslƒÀ