The Making of a Country Lawyer [Audio Cassette]

Gerry Spence (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996

A man who has devoted his life's work to defending the innocent and damned offers a first-hand account of his childhood and the almost unendurable tragedy that transformed him and fashioned his views of the world. Gerry Spence is one of America's foremost trial attorneys, handling such landmark cases as Randy Weaver and the vindication of Karen Silkwood. Simultaneous hardcover release from St. Martin's Press. 2 cassettes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Spence (How to Argue and Win Every Time) has composed a formidable autobiography, a striking evocation of the closing of the frontier in the Wyoming of the 1930s and '40s. It's also a penetrating look into the heart of a youth torn between the lure of the flesh and the evangelicalism of his mother, between the emotional pull of helping the downtrodden and the intellectual realization that in our society power lies with the rich. The climactic event of his youth was the suicide of his mother in 1969, who hoped he would become a clergyman?a tragedy he simplisitically and egotistically blamed on himself and his dissolute lifestyle, assuming a guilt that was to plague him for years. It is also the story of his two marriages, the first contracted when he and his bride were both 19, the second to a formerly married woman whom he credits with saving his life. He also chronicles several of his cases, and it is interesting to see him at work, from his first halting appearances in court to his assured performances in later years. One wonders if the title of his book is intended as irony, for the multimillionaire Spence is a "country lawyer" the way Nieman-Marcus is the proprietor of a country store. But his story, with dozens of family photos, is a major bit of Americana.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Lawyer Spence, the best-selling author of How To Argue and Win Every Time (St. Martin's, 1995), limns his climb to the top. A 300,000-copy first printing.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Audio Renaissance (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559274069
• ISBN-13: 978-1559274067
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,583,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gerry Spence has been a trial attorney for more than five decades and proudly represents "the little people." He has fought and won for the family of Karen Silkwood, defended Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, and represented hundreds of others in some of the most notable trials of our time. He is the founder of Trial Lawyer's College, a nonprofit school where, pro bono, he teaches attorneys for the people how to present their cases and win against powerful corporate and government interests. He is the author of fifteen books, including The New York Times bestseller How to Argue and Win Every Time, From Freedom to Slavery, Give Me Liberty, and The Making of a Country Lawyer, and is a nationally known television commentator on the famous trials of our time. He lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A personal, frank & moving story., February 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Making of a Country Lawyer (Hardcover)

I enjoy biographies and dislike most lawyers. This book caught my eye and since I had seen Mr. Spence on TV many times I checked it out of the library. I had been somewhat put off by his fringed jacket-Wyoming-cowboy persona and was prepared to dislike this book; now I can't wait to read the rest of his oeuvre. Mr. Spence shares the most intimate details of his life,including the reasons for his choice of wardrobe. His story is a fascinating one and it is told with both charm and passion. I enjoyed his descriptions of his early years hunting and working on his family's farms, evoking a vanishing America, or at least one that few of us will ever know or know anything about. He writes of the most important incident of his life, his mother's suicide, and how he finally broke the crippling bonds of guilt that tortured him for years, without self pity and with great literary skill. I salute him for sharing his story with us in such a moving and thoughtful way

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Frank and credible autobiographical romp, January 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Making of a Country Lawyer (Hardcover)

From the perspective of an older 2L law student, Spence represents the attorney many of us aspire to become; few, however, would be prepared to ride the rough road so candidly revealed in this study of a an oddessy laced with hypocrisy, courage, gallantry, cowardice, dispair, introspection, brilliance, and soul searching. Spence is one who has experience a full measure of living. While wiser now and in the hot light of celebrity, one cannot help but pity those he alienated along the way, which by his own admission was practically everyone in Riverton, WY. Still, seeing his commentary on cable, and having read what made him who he is, the enlightened Spence, minus the demons that haunted him for so long, still seems a paradox: folksy, yet cunning, humane, but as yet untamed, compassionate, yet still possessing the hunter's instnct. An interesting life emerges from these pages put in frank, sometimes self-deprecating terms that allows for a credible and surprisingly humble autobiographical romp,

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Honest story of an interesting life, February 17, 2007

By 

Jeff Barnaby "Jeff Barnaby" (Richmond, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Making of a Country Lawyer (Hardcover)

It has been said that it takes a great deal of courage for a person to take both their private thoughts and sacred moments and put them down on paper for another person to read. This is what Gerry Spence has done with his autobiography, and he should be congratulated for doing so. Spence is renowned for his landmark victories in court, including the Karen Silkwood estate, The defense of Randy Weaver, and the acquittal of Imelda Marcos. This story is not about that chapter in Spence's life, it is about the life of the young man who became this lawyer. Spence spends a fair amount of time talking about personal intimate details of his youth that most people would prefer to forget about, let alone share with perfect strangers. For me, this is where Spence's courage deserves to be applauded. Spence now presents himself as a kind understanding gentleman who is capable of dealing respectfully will those from all walks of life -- one of the many reasons he is so successful at handling jury trails. To read his own story, this was not always the case. I have read other reviews of this book from people who were shocked to learn the details of this man's teenage, young adult, and middle adult years and seemed to hold it against him. To me, Spence is not ashamed, as he should not be, about the path his life has taken. He offers no apology, and does not owe us one. He simply describes in detail the story of the first half (approximately) of his life with insight as to how it created the Gerry Spence that we all now know and love.

Some parts of the book to tend to get a little long and drawn out. This is simply Spence being Spence. He is never in a hurry to tell his stories and likes to let them meander. They are his stories and this one is about his life, so he should tell it his way.

My final thoughts of this book are not so much about he book itself, but something that happen right after I finished it. I had read several of Spence's works in succession. This book was the last. Not long afterward I sat down one Saturday afternoon and send him an e-mail telling him what I had read and that I appreciated his writing and his work. I sent the mail not really expecting anything and took off for the gym. I came home a few hours later and found a reply in my Inbox from Gerry thanking me and telling me that I had made his day. It was nice to know that I was able to talk briefly with a renowned figure.