Customer Reviews

A Defiant Life: Thurgood Marshall and the Persistence of Racism in America

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Gut wrenching in its honesty,thought provoking in the truest sense of the word. It allowed me to take a step back from racial madness and see through another pair of eyes. No law can change people's attitudes, morality is judged by the majority, this book shows us. And yet it had a hopeful note beneath the surface. Initially I was put off by the inhuman, thesis sounding title.. do not make my mistake-read this book and absorb culture at its ugliest (and most honest).

"A Defiant Life" presents the heroic life of Thurgood Marshall and his fight against racism in a compelling manner. The book does not tell a feel bad/feel angry/feel good story. There is little recourse to anecdotes, and hardly any moments for emotional release. Instead it tells what Marshall did as an advocate for the minorities - for example how he travelled many times to the South facing mortal danger to argue important cases. It also tells us of his opinions, and how they influenced his use of the legal system to help the oppressed. After reading this book, one comes away knowing that Marshall was one of the great men of 20th century America. And one comes away understanding the reasons for the far reaching implications of several Supreme Court cases.

From its rather droll beginnings: "Thurgood Marshall was born in 1908," Howard Ball's biography, A Defiant Life : Thurgood Marshall and the Persistence of Racism in America, only goes downhill. His writing style is bland and the story line follows no distinguishable pattern, aimless flowing from point to point with few overarching themes.

Unlike Juan Williams' Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary (a truly great biography focusing on the personal as well as the legal issues of this American giant) or Mark Tushnet's Making Civil Rights Law and Making Constitutional Law (two books that provide an excellent legal analysis of Marshall's work), Ball's book repeats stories and facts that are already well-worn and understood. Most tragic, one gets little understanding about what drove Marshall to fight the brutal system of Jim Crow oppression and led him to become such a forceful advocate of individual rights on the bench.

The personal and legal story of Marshall is much more interesting and deserves a much better biography. Best to skip this one.