Product Description

In the crammed and dizzying space of two years, from June 1924 to June 1926, America was transfixed by three contrasting courtroom trials. Each was described as a 'Trial of the Century' and featured Clarence Darrow, America's most charismatic but troubled defence lawyer, as he tried to overcome public outrage and his own private struggle to keep faith in the justice system. They also served as his own route to redemption - for Darrow was in the midst of trying to restore his reputation after he had twice been put on trial for attempting to bribe a jury. Although he had been acquitted Darrow, in his late sixties, was desperate to wipe the stain from his name. At the same time, and in one of the book's dramatic new revelations, Darrow rekindled an old affair with a passionate writer and activist, Mary Field, who was the secret love of his life. More than eighty years later, the public themes which Darrow confronted still resonate powerfully in contemporary society. Sex and murder, celebrity and race, religion and science, politics and justice, the media and the law, love and deception, belief and terror rise up as vividly today as they did in the Roaring Twenties.The world remains just as fractured and uncertain as that which Darrow surveyed in the three final iconic cases of his life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #113905 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

About the Author
Donald McRae is the award-winning author of six non-fiction books, including Every Second Counts, In Black & White and Dark Trade. He is the only two-time winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. He also writes for the Guardian and lives just outside London with his family.

Customer Reviews

Definitely worth a read!
Unlike the two previous reviewers, I enjoyed this book immensely. The coverage of the three cases themselves were riveting and the 'novelesque' approach of the author added some colour to what could be a quite dull read if it had followed traditional biographical styles.

Such was the interest that this book developed in Clarence Darrow, I immediately read 'Honor Killing' - not Clarence Darrow's finest hour, but a great read just the same.

Well done Donald McRae!

How not to write a Biography
This is one of the worst biographies that it has ever been my misfortune to read. Instead of being an incisive insight into a giant among lawyers the author clearly preferred to indulge his own prurient interest into what were a couple of fairly pedestrian relationships [wife/mistress]which added absolutely nothing to our existing knowledge of the man / lawyer. This author shold think most carefully before making any decision to give up the day job.

Mills & Boon on trial
This book revolves around the three last big cases Darrow was involved in & when it gets to them, finally, its rather good. But to get there you have to wade through Mills & Boon mush such as "She and Darrow remained silent as the elevator struggled upward. But, somewhere between the third and fifth floors, thier eyes met in a gaze that needed no words." The book has some good points but the style of writing is not to my realistic taste. Buy this for an intelligent maiden Aunt who remembers the great Spencer Tracey film.