The Chicago Conspiracy Trial [Paperback]

John Schultz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1993

The Chicago Conspiracy Trial of eight men, including Tom Hayden, Bobby Seale, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, for allegedly inciting anti-war riots during the 1968 Democratic Convention, was one of the most dramatic trials in the USA's history. This book provides a complete account of that trial as well as the events surrounding it. The author, John Schultz, witnessed the entire proceeding, and obtained the story of how Judge Hoffman successfully intimidated the jury.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...He puts words together with a clarity of sense and syntax that is almost physically engaging. Yet his brilliant account of the Chicago Conspiracy Trial is strikingly nonlinear... He has developed a dynamic explication of the trial.... He calls one chapter 'The Struggle for the Laugh in the Courtroom'... If Schultz has offered us a drama that is a metaphor for this society itself, then his intensive concern with the jurors and their own special agony is its climax. -- David Graber, Los Angeles Times-Calendar

...he puts words together with a clarity of sense and syntax that is almost physically engaging...brilliant account... -- David Graber, Los Angeles Times-Calendar

A beautiful, compelling, tear-jerking, mind-boggling book. -- William Burroughs

A masterful recapitulation of these anomalous events... -- Kirkus Reviews

As an historian, I am impressed with the depth with which John Schultz's book elucidates the American historical experience through a focus on this one important present-day event.... This book is a work to which I can turn, and to which I can direct the attention of students, for deeper understanding of the present as history and history as a way of understanding ourselves in the present. -- Martin J. Sklar, Professor of History, MacArthur Chair, Bucknell University

John Schultz, more than any other observer, covered the Conspiracy Trial in all its bizarre aspects ... This work, aside from being a profound study of fear, is investigative journalism in its highest sense. -- Studs Terkel

John Schultz...covered the Conspiracy Trial in all its bizarre aspects...investigative journalism in its highest sense. -- Studs Terkel

Schultz has written one of the few great trial books of our time...a uniquely American, political show trial...... -- Timothy Sullivan, Special Projects Producer, Court TV, Author:

The Schultz study is enormously relevant, covering as it does the jury performance under those strenuous conditions and testing realistically whether the jury today does perform the classic role (insulating the citizen from official oppression). It is therefore an important book for those who care about the jury system.... Mr. Schultz has written up his impressions with verve and perception. They cannot help but round out one's view of this important and perplexing case. -- Harry Kalven, Jr., Professor of Law, University of Chicago, author of The American Jury

The Schultz study is enormously relevant...an important book for those who care about the jury system... -- Harry Kalven, Jr., Professor of Law, University of Chicago, Author, The American Jury

From the Author

I just returned from the Showcasing of the Chicago Conspiracy Trial at the American Bar Assn. convention in Chicago Aug 3-6. I was on a panel before the re-enactment, consulted on the re-enactment with many of the actors, I was on a panel after the re-enactment, talked with attorneys and others attending--in general, a marvellous event, organized by ABA and attorneys and staff of Chicago law firm Jenner and Block. The Chicago Conspiracy Trial was sold in the lobby. along with my book 'No One Was Killed,'about the Democratic National Convention of 1968. There was a great deal of curiosity about the trial and the Democratic Convention of 1968 and their unusual implications for trials growing out of contemporary cyber protest and world trade protest in Seattle, Washingtion, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Quebec City, and so on. I believe the reader would benefit from reading the account of the DNC of 1968 along with The Chicago Conspiracy Trial to get a grasp of events that have had such a large impact upon American political life.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 420 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo; Revised edition (March 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306805138
• ISBN-13: 978-0306805134
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,316,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Law > Procedures & Litigation > Jury

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Chicago Conspiracy Trial, July 5, 2008

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Wendell Clay Kelly (Corona, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Chicago Conspiracy Trial (Paperback)

Great historical trial. You will find that the same is going on now 40 years later with the current administration.