Taming the Storm [Hardcover]

Jack Bass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 21, 1992

A biography of the southern judge describes how, in the explosive years of the civil rights movement, Johnson issued a series of landmark decisions that were instrumental in turning the tide of white resistance. 15,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The unelected federal judge who, in Bill Moyers's words, "altered forever the face of the South," comes alive in this substantial biography. Bass, author of a previous book on Southern judges ( Unlikely Heroes ), first depicts Johnson as a product of the fiercely independent hills of northwest Alabama and the son of a mother with strong convictions. Drawing on extensive interviews with Johnson and his associates, Bass describes Johnson's early years, including his influential experiences in law school, before he became a judge and intersected with the civil rights movement: ruling on bus segregation, voting rights and school desegregation, and suffering the bombing of his mother's house and vitriol from his law school chum, Alabama governor George Wallace. Not just a moral beacon, Johnson, who recently retired, was a legal innovator, developing new judicial doctrines regarding state prisons and mental health institutions. Johnson claims his judicial approach is strictly legal with "no interest in social change" and the book's account makes that claim plausible. In a few chapters, such as one on the suicide of the judge's adopted son, Bass could have used less detail, but this book is a valuable piece of history. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Taming the Storm describes the triumph of wisdom, tenacity, and personal courage—an inspiring story.”--President Jimmy Carter

"Taming the Storm is everything a good biography should be."--Washington Post Book World

"It is a story none of us should ever forget."--Warren E. Burger, U.S. Chief Justice

“Taming the Storm is everything a good biography should be.”--Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"The definitive biography of this legendary judge."--New York Times Book Review

"A fine salute to a brave man with an enormous respect for justice."--Washington Post Book World

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (December 21, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385413483
• ISBN-13: 978-0385413480
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.8 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,648,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Judge Johnson - Southern Hero, April 11, 2005

By 

Michael "Young Raven" (Goose Creek, Seychelles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Taming the Storm: The Life and Times of Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., and the South's Fight over Civil Rights (Paperback)

"Hero in war and peace, implacable enemy of sham and duplicity, living symbol of courage and fairness, jurist par excellence. Through tides of emotion surged menacingly about you, you have read the law as it was, not as other might have wished it to be" (Bass, Taming the Storm, pg. 403)

These words inscribed on an honorary degree from Saint Michael's College hung on the wall of Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr.'s chambers and personified the legacy of one of the most significant judges within the last century of American history. In his 1993 book, "Taming the Storm," Dr. Jack Bass goes to great lengths to reveal this modest hero to a generation not necessarily familiar with the judge who stood behind the traditional historic scene in the Civil Rights Movement. Judge Johnson's deeply held beliefs of personal and judicial integrity as well as a strong sense of justice can be seen in his landmark verdicts toward Civil Rights, prison reform, and state mental health care.

I felt a bit like Bill Moyers' crew who had interviewed him in 1980. He said, "The only Johnson they'd ever heard of was Andrew and Lyndon. And to find such impregnable character in such a winsome form was like a discovery of a new hero" (Bass, Taming the Storm, pg 370). The book, more than anything, renews an optimism of finding legitimate Southern heroes - men and women of true integrity.

The story of Judge Johnson, and consequently Dr. Bass's book, are essential not only to scholars but perhaps more importantly to a new generation of Southern men and women. Those who may look back on twentieth century southern history with a certain level of embarrassment can know that a beacon of rationale and justice derived from the south.