Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality [Paperback]

Richard Kluger (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1400030617 | ISBN-13: 978-1400030613 | Publication Date: April 13, 2004

Simple Justice is the definitive history of the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education and the epic struggle for racial equality in this country. Combining intensive research with original interviews with surviving participants, Richard Kluger provides the fullest possible view of the human and legal drama in the years before 1954, the cumulative assaults on the white power structure that defended segregation, and the step-by-step establishment of a team of inspired black lawyers that could successfully challenge the law. Now, on the fiftieth anniversary of the unanimous Supreme Court decision that ended legal segregation, Kluger has updated his work with a new final chapter covering events and issues that have arisen since the book was first published, including developments in civil rights and recent cases involving affirmative action, which rose directly out of Brown v. Board of Education.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the landmark Brown decision, this update and expansion of the widely acclaimed original work, published in 1976, goes beyond portrayals of the major players involved in the decision--the NAACP legal team, including Thurgood Marshall and Charles Houston; the defender of states' rights, John Davis; and Chief Justice Earl Warren, who brokered a unanimous decision shortly after joining the Court; and the complainants, who undertook personal risk to challenge the doctrine of separate but equal. In this volume, Kluger also analyzes the nation's progress on race issues in the intervening 28 years since the book was first published. In a new chapter, he looks at the politics and policies of the Nixon and Reagan eras--courting the South through retrenchment on racial integration and frontal attacks on busing--up to the current national obsession with colorblindness that has fostered a hypersegregation that mirrors conditions before the Brown decision. This is a powerful resource for readers interested in reviewing the particulars of Brown and the changes that have occurred since that landmark ruling. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“One of the most important books published in our American times. . . . A major accomplishment.” —Philadelphia Inquirer

“Extraordinary. . . . An outstanding piece of legal and social history.” —Washington Post

“A thought-provoking work that should become part of the standard literature on race relations.” —New York Times Book Review

“The definitive account, to date, of the struggle for black equality in America. . . . A monumental accomplishment.” —The Nation

“This huge, fascinating book . . . classic in its clarity and dimensions . . . should become part of our nation’s scriptures.” —Chicago Sun-Times

“An extraordinary research effort, and a major contribution to our understanding of the Supreme Court.” —Harvard Law Review

“A brilliant and powerful book.”–Bob Herbert, The New York Times

“A gripping story . . . epic history.” –Los Angeles Times

“A remarkable act of scholarship. . . . A book about values. . . . Its reader should be prepared to be moved.” –The Atlantic Monthly

“A noble study, written in the grand manner.” –Geoffrey Wolff, Newsday

“A remarkable book, moving and intellectually rich, mixing scholarship and humanity as it explores the modern Supreme Court’s most important decision.” –Anthony Lewis

“A masterful storyteller. . . . Kluger finds heroes all along the way. . . . Embellished with captivating anecdotes . . . [and] engrossing character vignettes.” –St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“An exciting story of an American happening as important as the Revolution itself. . . . Superb narrative history.” –Kansas City Star

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 880 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (April 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400030617
• ISBN-13: 978-1400030613
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.7 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,915 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Law > Specialties > Educational Law & Legislation
  • #9 in Books > Law > Constitutional Law > Civil Rights
  • #55 in Books > Law > Administrative Law

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Look no further for the definitive Brown v Board of Ed. book, September 14, 2000

By 

Peter Carrozzo (Flushing, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Simple Justice (Paperback)

This is the most thorough book you will read on Brown v. Board of Education. Kluger makes an attentive reader of his work a modest authority on the subject. You had better be very interested in the topic, however, as he leaves no stone unturned. Kluger writes not as a lawyer or historian but as a journalist who is witness to the multitude of events which he depicts.

Besides the numerous civil rights leaders and soldiers the reader encounters, the author provides an intimate account of Supreme Court justices and the process of decision-making. This proves to be the most compelling aspect of the book.

It's required reading for every social revolutionary.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Justice for All, But Oh, the Cost, August 3, 2001

By 

"mrsfaganselves" (huntington, ny United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Simple Justice (Paperback)

A quarter of a century after it was first published, "Simple Justice" still has the power to move, enrage and touch the hearts of anyone who believes that justice ultimately prevails.

It should be required reading in any college U.S. history course because it shines an intense spotlight on the complex development of legal issues and thinking that produced the end of segregation in the United States.

I do not exaggerate when I say I believe that this is the best history book I've ever read. Further, it's wise to read it now, because an awful lot of the people instrumental in the ultimate decision, Brown vs. the Board of Education, are dying out. The late Thurgood Marshall is a great example of a lost legal talent and courageous leader who did the right thing by all Americans by winning this case. Read this book now, if only so you'll recognize the heroes in their obituaries.

What Richard Kluger has done in this account is spell out the development first of segregation, telling us just who and how the dreaded Jim Crow laws came about-including segregation laws in the North-and then walk us through how, piece by piece, legal decisions were strung together to put an end to legal segregation.

I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s and, if I thought about it at all, had the idea that the Brown decision had more or less come out of nowhere. Eventually, I began to catch on, and then I read this book. If you are similar-minded, this book will set you straight and point you to the many unsung heroes who have made us a fairer country, in line with the ideals that helped found this country. If you're a parent looking for good role models, forget sports and entertainment. Look to this book for examples of people who literally risked everything, and often paid dearly, to do the right thing. They didn't shrink from the challenge; they stepped forward, many many times. That so many others did not only reminds us of how fearful we are to force change or risk our own well being to tackle injustice. I wish I could rate it higher.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book every American should have on his/her shelf, June 6, 2000

By 

Tung Yin (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Simple Justice (Paperback)

There are some books that every American needs to read in order to be a responsible citizen; this is one of those books. (The only other that comes to mind right now is "The Federalist Papers.")

"Simple Justice" is really two books in one: the first deals with the horrific institution of slavery in the United States and the post-Civil War oppression of blacks in the form of Jim Crow laws; the second deals with the strategy that desegregationists (principally the NAACP) used to dismantle the formal apartheid of the South.

Evaluated solely on its subject matter, this book would merit the requirement of being read. The story of how Thurgood Marshall (then a top NAACP attorney, later U.S. Solicitor General, then U.S. Supreme Court Justice) chipped away at the "separate but equal" doctrine in small steps gives the reader an appreciation of how entrenched institutional racism was as recently as the mid-20th Century. In addition, the reader will gain an understanding of how what is arguably the most important decision of the Supreme Court of the 1900s came about.

But there's another reason to read "Simple Justice." Richard Kluger is an amazingly gifted writer (for proof, try reading the first chapter of "Ashes to Ashes," his monumental work on the tobacco industry; even if you don't smoke, his description of smoking in the first chapter will have you feeling the smoke go down your throat), and his powerful prose makes you feel the pain that his characters endured as a result of slavery and Jim Crow laws.

By no means is this is a "fun" book to read; indeed, parts of it are incredibly unpleasant to read and will make you ashamed to be an American (unless, of course, you're John Rocker). But it's precisely because Kluger is able to evoke such shame that makes this book so important.