The greatest threat to the future of the office of the American Presidency may turn on whether William Jefferson Clinton told a lie, under oath, and then tried—unsuccessfully—to keep secret his sexual relationship with a twenty-two-year-old White House intern. The media’s feeding frenzy and the public’s voyeuristic prurience have been fueled by almost daily disclosures, making The Starr Report itself an instant #1 national bestseller. Yet all of this obscures the very real matters of state that lie at the heart of the Starr investigation.In Sexual McCarthyism, bestselling author Alan M. Dershowitz addresses the key issues at stake—issues that transcend the titillating daily headlines—and what their long-term effects may be. Among the many important questions Dershowitz raises and then answers are these:Why the President’s private life actually is the business of the American people.Why the independent counsel law is a necessary evil, but why the appointment of Kenneth Starr was improper.Why the Supreme Court was right in requiring the President to submit to the Paula Jones lawsuit.Why Kenneth Starr’s leaking of testimony and evidence are at least as serious obstructions of justice as anything alleged against the President.What the lasting constitutional, historical, and political legacies of this case are likely to be.Long after the buzz and sizzle of “Monicagate” have subsided, readers will still be looking to Sexual McCarthyism as a substantive, clear, and definitive analysis of the underlying importance of one of the most serious, yet entirely avoidable, crises in modern American Presidential politics.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"After reading the professor's brilliant analysis, no fair-minded person will conclude impeachment is justified." -- Geraldo Rivera
"It is a great book. God bless Professor Dershowitz for his exhilarating and infuriating devotion to the logic of the law." -- David Mamet, playwright and screenwriter for "Wag the Dog"
"My verdict: whether you are a lawyer or not, read this book. Once again, Alan Dershowitz has written the book that makes us all stop and think and think and think." -- Greta Van Susteren, CNN legal analyst
"No Malice, No Charity. Dershowitz doesnt take sides. He goes after both President Clinton and Kenneth Starr--with powerful arguments that must be considered." -- George Stephanopolous, Former Advisor to President Clinton
"The American people deserve this book, the most intelligent, even-handed discussion of this presidential crisis yet. Both sides of the aisle will eventually take note of the trenchant good sense laid bare in Alan Dershowitz's Sexual McCarthyism. Listen up, America! There are important revelations within." -- Gerry Spence, trial lawyer and author of Give Me Liberty.
...Mr Dershowitz is fortunate in being almost as bright as he thinks he is. Many of his contentions are convincing and, indeed, fascinating. -- The Economist
For Lewinsky scandal buffs, there is enough here to stimulate and refine consideration of the moral, legal, political, and constitutional questions that have combined to threaten a presidency. -- The Boston Globe, Robert L. Turner
"It is a great book. God bless Professor Dershowitz for his exhilarating and infuriating devotion to the logic of the law." -- David Mamet, playwright and screenwriter for "Wag the Dog"
"My verdict: whether you are a lawyer or not, read this book. Once again, Alan Dershowitz has written the book that makes us all stop and think and think and think." -- Greta Van Susteren, CNN legal analyst
"No Malice, No Charity. Dershowitz doesnt take sides. He goes after both President Clinton and Kenneth Starr--with powerful arguments that must be considered." -- George Stephanopolous, Former Advisor to President Clinton
"The American people deserve this book, the most intelligent, even-handed discussion of this presidential crisis yet. Both sides of the aisle will eventually take note of the trenchant good sense laid bare in Alan Dershowitz's Sexual McCarthyism. Listen up, America! There are important revelations within." -- Gerry Spence, trial lawyer and author of Give Me Liberty.
...Mr Dershowitz is fortunate in being almost as bright as he thinks he is. Many of his contentions are convincing and, indeed, fascinating. -- The Economist
For Lewinsky scandal buffs, there is enough here to stimulate and refine consideration of the moral, legal, political, and constitutional questions that have combined to threaten a presidency. -- The Boston Globe, Robert L. Turner
About the Author
Alan Dershowitz is Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Known as a defense lawyer, he is also a litigator, columnist, lecturer, book reviewer, and prolific author. His recent books include Sexual McCarthyism, on the Starr investigation, and Reasonable Doubts, on the O. J. Simpson case. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
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
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Legal Criticism/Analysis of the Clinton Defense,
By A Customer
This review is from: Sexual McCarthyism : Clinton, Starr, and the Emerging Constitutional Crisis (Hardcover)
Early on, Dershowitz informs his readers that he is a supporter of Clinton. Nevertheless, he uses several opportunities, throughout the book, to criticize Clinton for undermining people's civil rights. Perhaps ironically, Clinton himself may be on the receiving end of such policies in the form of Starr's questionable methods for gathering evidence. At any rate, this book is presented in a diary fashion, with a certain amount of interpolation and commentary provided with each entry. As a non-lawyer, I found Dershowitz's explanations intriguing as the intricacies of the law are expounded. As a pure legalist, Dershowitz criticizes the Clinton defense as being politically driven, the end result of which has been a presidency in jeopardy for legal reasons. The book is not so much a defense of Clinton and his actions as it is a story of how Dershowitz would have conducted Clinton's legal affairs during each critical phase of this crisis. I find his arguments compelling, although I'm not sure who wouldn't in hindsight. Overall, I think the book is very readable and I believe it gives non-lawyers insight into the legal system and why things are setup the way they are.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
James Carville with a Harvard Sweatshirt,
By A Customer
This review is from: Sexual McCarthyism : Clinton, Starr, and the Emerging Constitutional Crisis (Hardcover)
I must cofess to have been rather disappointed in Prof. Dershowitz's book, or rather, should I say, polemic. Any written work which combines unsubstantiated theory hidden behind a cloak of academic integrity, poses a greater threat to democracy than Clinton, Starr and the whole lot. Here is a typical case of the dictatorship of vocabulary so common of politicians, especially in light of the impeachment hearings against President Clinton. He often repeats the typical democratic mantra of "its a family matter," or "its a question of privacy." Not only that, his observations of Starr are, for the most part off the cuff insults and mere conclusions of a talking head on CNBC's epitome of shock jock journalism, The Geraldo Rivera Show. His references of Starr as a "puritanical prosecutor" and his theme of Starr's allegiances with right wing enemies of Clinton, smack of JFK and Oliver Stone. Ironically enough, on page 26 he refers to the "results oriented investigation of the assassination of President Kennedy," as an example of a cover-up. A few other issues worth mentioning. The term "sexual McCarthyism" is a tad disingenuious considering the fact that what McCarthy was known for, his pursuit of Communists, for the most part, lacked evidence. Starr seems to have more evidence of law breaking than a simple blank piece of paper in his pocket. His historical analysis concerning the Founding Fathers is exagerated, if not outright faulty. Which begs the question, is this a case of academic dishonesty, intellectual laziness, or what I believe the case to be, a polemic from a Dmeocratic "minion" (To use his word) like any other. Had I known Harvard was not to concerned with issues of academic and intellectual honesty, I would have suggested they could have hired James Carville to do the same work.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
"Sexual McCarthyism" is not a book. It is a scam.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Sexual McCarthyism : Clinton, Starr, and the Emerging Constitutional Crisis (Hardcover)
"Sexual McCarthyism" is not a book. It is a publishing scam. The full-page New York Times ads with glowing comments by media celebrities and others made Dershowitz's new book sound like a timely and thoughtful analysis of the Clinton debacle. It is not. I hasten to add that I say this even though I agree with almost everything Dershowitz writes.The book is not a real book, but merely a lightly edited compilation of op-eds and other columns Dershowitz has written over the last several years, some of which have almost nothing to do with the Clinton scandal. Almost all begin and end in 2 or 3 pages. The effect is as though one is reading an endless series of lawyerly proverbs. "Legal Chicken Soup for the Presidential Soul." Don't look for depth here. For example, Dershowitz does relatively little, given the title, to explicate the concept of "sexual mccarthyism." Sure, Dershowitz is on the mark much of the time. But most of the material is out of date. And, to repeat the main point, this is a publishing rip-off. Make some fast money, then on to the next scandal.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
