Selected Product:
| Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge
Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Author: Gerald Gunther
Publisher: Knopf
Release Date: 1994-04-12
ISBN-10: 039458807X
ISBN-13: 9780394588070
List Price: $35.00
Average Customer Rating:
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Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
A Masterful, moving account of the life and work of one of the great judges of the twentieth century, whose work has left a profound mark on our legal, intellectual, and social landscape. The greatest judge never to be appointed to the Supreme Court, Learned Hand is widely considered the peer of Justices Holmes, Brandeis, and Cardozo. In his more than fifty years on the bench, he left an unequaled legacy of lastingly influential writings. This distinctive biography goes well beyond Hand's official work, however, to depict both a complex human being and the times in which he lived. The first to draw on the enormous collection of the judge's private papers, the eminent constitutional scholar Gerald Gunther vividly portrays a public man consumed by private doubts. Gunther's lively account moves from Hand's childhood in a formidable (and anxiety-producing) family of lawyers to his years at Harvard as a studious outsider, his frustrating experience in private law practice, his felt inadequacies in marriage, and his work as a federal judge. Throughout his life, Hand believed himself unworthy of the accolades bestowed upon him; self-doubt permeated all aspects of his life.
Gunther subtly explores the ties between the modest, uncertain man -- a liberal skeptic who was never "too sure [he was] right" -- and his public record, and suggests that Hand's personal traits shaped his modest approach to judging: the questioning human being could not help acting that way as a judge. Hand's most enduring legacy is his advocacy of judicial restraint: repeatedly he sounded the dangers of excessive activism in unelected judges. Yet he mustered the courage to support such basic values as freedom of expression -- from his personally costly defense of dissenters amid the hysteria of World War I to his strong affirmation of free speech in his rulings on obscenity and his outspoken attacks on McCarthyism in the 1950s.
This biography also offers the perspective of one of this era's most sensitive public figures on the rich political and social history of the first six decades of the twentieth century. By examining Hand's voluminous correspondence with such acquaintances as Walter Lippmann, Felix Frankfurter, and Herbert Croly (with whom he was a founding contributor to The New Republic), Gunther illuminates Hand's intense involvement with the public issues of his times, such as his enthusiastic support of Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive party. Gunther gives us a graphic portrait of a complex and uncommon man whose thoughts and words inspired generations of Americans and continue to do so today.
A window on history and on one man's view of events
| Customer Rating: | This long book, with 680 pp of text, which deterred me at the outset, but then its length became welcome.
I read other Amazon reviewers with interest, and agree with some that(a)this is a valuable book, and with another that(b)the author at times demonstrates a political slant or bias. On the latter issue, however, I am less concerned than the critic. Many of the topics allow no easy answers and probably defie totally impartial reporting. No problem; I am capable of detecting bias, and willing to hear many sides of an issue.
I appreciated the fascinating account of Hand's life (mostly his career, since the family soon disappears from the narrative). I also greatly appreciated looking behind the scences as lawyers, the courts, and Hand and his friends confronted major events in 20th century US history.
This book deepened and refreshed my understandings. Is it the "true" or definitive story of Learned Hand and his times? Perhaps, but that is not my basic concern. Rather, the book helped me test and possibly deepen my own thinking. Ideological slant notwithstanding the author has given me valuable information. Doing my part - as an active, intelligent reader - I was able to exercise my brain: reconsidering past understandings, reassess my own prejudices, etc. In sum, the book is entertaining and a welcome tool that helped me stay mentally alive and, perhaps, even grow a bit wiser.
Finally, though not a lawyer I am interested in the law and its links to economic, social, and political processes. Thus I am perhaps more patient with fine legal distinctions and reasoning than would be the average reader. Some folks will not want to work their way through this book. |
This is how biography should be written!
| Customer Rating: | As a lawyer, I knew of Learned Hand from his opinions.
Thanks to Professor Gunther, I know about the real life human being who wrote them. Hand was a success at many things, but had more than his share of personal issues. The author does a fine job of blending Hand's personal life with his professional life.
The highest praise that I can offer is that Professor Gunther doesn't write at all like a lawyer. His prose is witty, captivating and entertaining. Somehow, Professor Gunther managed to overcome his legal training long enough to write sparkling prose.
Good job!GOOD WILL WIN IN THE END |
The best judicial biography written
| Customer Rating: | Learned Hand was in many ways a great man. A dedicated judge, the gently forgiving husband of a straying wife, a kind and thoughtful person, brilliantly intelligent and clear-thinking - and yet, in the end, almost unknowable. Gunther's biography shines a light on every aspect of the judge's work and personality, including the mystery at his inner core. Hand really wasn't like other people, and Gunther, who knew him personally, captures that.
Gunther's prose is remarkably clear and direct. Another reviewer's remarks about his political bias are just mystifying to me. I don't think Hand's jurisprudence can be classified as either liberal or conservative, and I didn't come away with any sense of Gunther's politics. Frankfurter, the New Dealer, is not depicted as a villain, but rather as one of Hand's closest friends, and an extremely interesting person in his own right.
Judicial biographies are inherently difficult to write, because the subjects' lives tend to be externally uneventful. (Hand virtually never left his native New York state.) Also, old cases are dull unless you really get into them, but to do so requires long digressions from the biographical narrative. This is the only judicial biography I've read that overcomes both problems. I recommend it wholeheartedly. |
I Thought It Was Great
| Customer Rating: | | This is an outstanding biography written by one who is a true legal scholar in his own right. Gunther's understanding and insight into the legal issues surrounding the life of Learned Hand made reading this book a fine experience. |
insufferably boring.
| Customer Rating: | | notwithstanding Justice Powell's glowing introduction, reading this book is like wading through cold oatmeal. anyone who can endure this avalanche of turgid prose to mine those incredibly few nuggets of interesting information about this great judge is a dedicated person indeed. save your money. |
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