Customer Reviews

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (Lives & Legacies (Oxford))

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Who better to write a short biography of Justice Holmes than the author of the virtually definitive major biography of the Justice, "Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: Law and the Inner Self." This short biography is part of Oxford's "Lives and Legacies" series. I had some concern that the book would either be so short as to not really discuss much detail about Holmes, or that it would be so simplified for a more general audience as to lose the incisive vigor of White's previous books on Holmes. Happily, neither fear was confirmed: there is plenty of meat on the skeleton and, while White takes time to explain some key legal concepts for the non-specialist, his analysis still sparkles.

The book stands as a superb brief introduction to the Justice and some of his key contributions. There are eleven pages of helpful notes; some interesting photographs; a chronology; and a bibliography for further reading. Also quite helpful is the use of what White terms "sidebars," which are extended quotes from Holmes' letters and opinions, so that the reader gets a sense of Holmes writing styles. Wisely, White does not try to cram too much into this short book--he well covers OWH prior to his appointment, and limits his discussion of the Justice's Supreme Court opinions to a few areas such as free speech. He also takes aim at the Holmes as "the great dissenter" image, and explains how Frankfurther and other disciples used "The New Republic" and other publicity devices to create the "Yankee from Olympus" image we associate with OWH.

There is just a tremendous amount of useful information contained within 137 pages of text. The writing flows well and is quite interesting even to those of us who have gone many rounds with the Justice. A small jewel to be sure.