America on Trial: Inside the Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation--From the Salem Witches to the Guantanamo Detainees [Hardcover]

Alan M. Dershowitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 2004

The Boston Massacre. The Dred Scott decision. The Chicago Seven. O.J. Simpson. These are some of the trials that have both shaped and fascinated American society. Alan M. Dershowitz, who has been either a lawyer, consultant, or commentator on some of the most celebrated cases of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, highlights the trials he believes to be the most significant in our history, and discuses how they were central to the development of America's political and social structure.

Editorial Reviews

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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Review

"As with all his books, this one is stimulating and enriching."

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books (May 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446520586
• ISBN-13: 978-0446520584
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,132,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ is a Brooklyn native who has been called 'the nation's most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer' and one of its 'most distinguished defenders of individual rights,' 'the best-known criminal lawyer in the world,' 'the top lawyer of last resort,' and 'America's most public Jewish defender.' He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Dershowitz, a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale Law School, joined the Harvard Law School faculty at age 25 after clerking for Judge David Bazelon and Justice Arthur Goldberg. While he is known for defending clients such as Anatoly Sharansky, Claus von B'low, O.J. Simpson, Michael Milken and Mike Tyson, he continues to represent numerous indigent defendants and takes half of his cases pro bono. Dershowitz is the author of 20 works of fiction and non-fiction, including 6 bestsellers. His writing has been praised by Truman Capote, Saul Bellow, David Mamet, William Styron, Aharon Appelfeld, A.B. Yehoshua and Elie Wiesel. More than a million of his books have been sold worldwide, in numerous languages, and more than a million people have heard him lecture around the world. His most recent nonfiction titles are The Case For Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can be Resolved (August 2005, Wiley); Rights From Wrongs: A Secular Theory of the Origins of Rights (November 2004, Basic Books), The Case for Israel (September 2003, Wiley), America Declares Independence, Why Terrorism Works, Shouting Fire, Letters to a Young Lawyer, Supreme Injustice, and The Genesis of Justice. His novels include The Advocate's Devil and Just Revenge. Dershowitz is also the author of The Vanishing American Jew, The Abuse Excuse, Reasonable Doubts, Chutzpah (a #1 bestseller), Reversal of Fortune (which was made into an Academy Award-winning film), Sexual McCarthyism and The Best Defense.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars So many pages for so little to read., August 3, 2004

By 

Anthony Sanchez (Fredericksburg, va United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: America on Trial: Inside the Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation--From the Salem Witches to the Guantanamo Detainees (Hardcover)

I am a strong admirer of Alan Dershowitz. I especially enjoyed his books The Genesis of Justice, and Reasonable Doubts (O.J. Simpson case). Unlike those books, America on Trial tries to do way too much. It is more like his Contrary to Popular Opinion book, where he presents many of his earlier published commentaries on the law.

Unfortunately, I found the writings in the current book to lack the cohesiveness and well considered analysis found in the earlier book. Granted, this is not true for every case that he presents. However, he includes far to many cases for which he simply wants to inject a personal opinion. In so doing, he misses opportunities for more developed theories of particular cases. Frankly, many of his comments on some of these cases could have been presented in a paragraph.

I understand that he is trying to explain various aspects of American law by using an assortment of cases. But, his points become obscure and sometimes repetitive by having too many cases in a format that reminds me of Reader's Digest, or U.S.A. Today.

In sum, there is not enough in this book to be useful for serious students of law or history, and too many cases for the casual reader. I hope that this is not a sign of the dummying down of Dershowtiz.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars www.knucklepit.com, December 10, 2008

By 

Mr. Marc Wickert "www.knucklepit.com" (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: America on Trial: Inside the Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation--From the Salem Witches to the Guantanamo Detainees (Hardcover)

America On Trial - Inside The Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation
by Alan M. Dershowitz (Warner Books).
© Marc Wickert October 1, 2008
www.knucklepit.com

This book is literary shock treatment. Although written by the world's most famous criminal lawyer, the book is easy to read, but hard to put down.

Professor Dershowitz has defended such clients as Patty Hearst, Jimmy Bakker, and former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. Dershowitz was also a member of O.J. Simpson's `Dream Team' defense group.

In his book, he covers cases from the Salem Witchcraft Trials of Colonial America to the Trial of the Lincoln Assassins; from the Shoeless Joe Jackson Case to the Trial of Jack Ruby; and the Trial of the Chicago Seven to the Cases of the Terrorist Detainees - in Guantanamo and unknown places around the world.

If you ever wondered whether Mike Tyson was really guilty of rape, or thought it strange a beauty pageant contestant was innocently visiting the boxer in his hotel room at 2am, then wait until you've read Professor Dershowitz's chapter "The Trial of Mike Tyson".

"America On Trial - Inside The Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation" is a knockout book from cover to cover. This book should be in every library on the planet.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent - Recommend Buying, December 23, 2005

By 

J. E. Robinson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: America on Trial: Inside the Legal Battles That Transformed Our Nation--From the Salem Witches to the Guantanamo Detainees (Hardcover)

I had a expected a bit better book but this book is still excellent. If someone else had written the book I might be less ambivalent but it is written by Alan Dershowitz, long time Harvard Law Professor, well known appeals lawyer, media commentator, author of 20 previous books, at least one of which I know was made into a movie, and perhaps one of the most talented living lawyers - so I expected a better book. To give some perspective I recently read the book on Stalin by Montefiore and he must have really toiled to write that book. This book in comparison seems like somewhat less of an effort - see below. Still it ranks 4 or 5 stars and is a great buy.

When I discovered the book at my book store I was ecstatic and bought it immediately. I started to read it as soon as I got home. The first chapter is beautiful. He explains how the early trials of Socrates, and Jesus, and Galileo, and Thomas More, and Mary Queen of Scots, the trial of Louis XVI all have contributed to our legal thinking and how these helped form what became of the current legal system. He quotes from the bible: Adam and Eve, Susanna, Jacob, etc. He references the Federalist Papers, Greek trials, the Romans, etc.

After that chapter I thought this was going to be a legal "tour de force" but it is not. After page 25 and "The Foundations of American Law" we find a compilation of cases - a series of short stories on famous trials - each a few pages long starting with the Salem Witchcraft Trials in 1692 (8 pages long) going through approximately 60 trials in total. We learn the names, the trial date, location, defendants, charge, verdict, and the sentence of each trial. These are grouped into sections with an introduction for each section. Each section has its own notes and the book is almost 600 pages long. The author adds many comments on each case and explains how the trials support basic freedoms and rights, and commenting on how the laws have evolved ( I suppose that is what another reviewer refers to as political bias) and quotes from people such as Justice Brandeis etc.

All the information is interesting and informative and clearly indicates how are laws have evolved; there is a difference between the laws and justice; sometimes laws evolve through the action of juries and bright lawyers and against the wishes of conservative judges and meddling politicians. He does a nice job with Susan B. Anthony and Andrew Johnson's impeachment, and Alger Hiss, and Roe vs Wade and many more. The conspiracy charges against Dr. Spock were chilling to say the least and are almost unimaginable. He goes from Salem to Guantanamo and it all seems well balanced except for the O.J. case where he is not objective, but that was not an important legal trial from a viewpoint of forming or changing laws. It is mostly a wonderful summary of trials and their results but it is not perhaps Dershowitz's "tour de force" culmination of 20 books. Still the trial comments and the end results are good.

I did spot one small error. Hinckley fired at Reagan after he gave his speech to the AFL-CIO and as Reagan went from the Hilton to his limousine, not as the book states that he was entering to give a speech where the author was also speaking (see for example page 428 of "Dutch" by Edmund Morris).

A bit disappointing in some ways but still a good buy, and one of his better books. Clearly an innovative book and a compelling read.