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Peter H. Irons

A People's History of the Supreme Court: The Men and Women Whose Cases and Decisions Have Shaped Our Constitution: Revised Edition Paperback – July 25, 2006

by Peter Irons (Author)

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A comprehensive history of the people and cases that have changed history, this is the definitive account of the nation's highest court featuring a forward by Howard Zinn

Recent changes in the Supreme Court have placed the venerable institution at the forefront of current affairs, making this comprehensive and engaging work as timely as ever. In the tradition of Howard Zinn's classic A People's History of the United States, Peter Irons chronicles the decisions that have influenced virtually every aspect of our society, from the debates over judicial power to controversial rulings in the past regarding slavery, racial segregation, and abortion, as well as more current cases about school prayer, the Bush/Gore election results, and "enemy combatants." To understand key issues facing the supreme court and the current battle for the court's ideological makeup, there is no better guide than Peter Irons. This revised and updated edition includes a foreword by Howard Zinn.

"A sophisticated narrative history of the Supreme Court . . . [Irons] breathes abundant life into old documents and reminds readers that today's fiercest arguments about rights are the continuation of the endless American conversation." -Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

Print length

608 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Books
Publication date

July 25, 2006
Dimensions

5.92 x 1.28 x 8.9 inches
ISBN-10

0143037382
ISBN-13

978-0143037385
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Editorial Reviews

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Silver Gavel Award Honorary Mention (American Bar Association)

"... a history of the Supreme Court that breathes life into the dry language of the judicial system, that looks behind the cases to the human beings crucial to the cases but long forgotten, that examines the realities of social conflict beneath the surface of legal argument." -- Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States

"A sophisticated narrative history of the Supreme Court . . . [Irons] breathes abundant life into old documents and reminds readers that today's fiercest arguments about rights are the continuation of the endless American conversation." -Publisher's Weekly (starred review)

"This sweeping history of the Supreme Court will thoroughly aggravate anyone who believes, along with Robert Bork or Justice Antonin Scalia that the Constitution should be read narrowly." -- Kirkus Review

From the Back Cover

It is such good reading that we allow the author to lead us places in history that we might not have expected to travel. (The Boston Globe)

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Revised edition (July 25, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 608 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0143037382
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143037385
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.92 x 1.28 x 8.9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #95,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #38 in Courts & Law
- #61 in Legal History (Books)
- #69 in United States Judicial Branch

Customer Reviews:
199 ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

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Joseph H.

Great information, terrible execution by the publisher on the Kindle version

Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2019

Verified Purchase

3 stars for content and delivery. Minus 2 stars for the crazy amount of typo's.

I normally wait until I am completely done books before posting a review, but after completing about 30% of this book I just had to post a review. The content is really quite good, and Peter Irons is well researched and presents the facts in a way that is easy to read and understand. HOWEVER, the Kindle version is FULL of typo's of all kinds. Everything from words being misspelled ("Sipreme Court" is one of the more annoying ones) to random punctuation marks being added in the middle of sentences, to missing capitalization or having words be randomly capitalized in the middle of sentences. The publisher clearly has treated the Kindle version as a second class citizen. I stopped submitting errors after about 15% of the book because I was sending one almost every time I swiped to a new page. It's clear it was not proofread after they converted it to the Kindle format. It really takes away from what would otherwise be a really great book.

If you're going to buy this I'd get the physical editions, from what I can see in reviews it is not loaded with the same typographical errors.

27 people found this helpful

Helpful

T. Walsh

Good history, horrific editing

Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2020

Verified Purchase

The author's knowledge of SCOTUS is unquestionable. However, as others have noted, grammar, spelling and other obvious errors on nearly every page, some so egregious as to change the ideas presented, make me wonder if the ebook version was created using voice recognition software and a reader who spoke only broken English.

12 people found this helpful

Helpful

ZeddZull

Interesting and readable - Kindle version is riddled with typographical errors

Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2021

Verified Purchase

I have enjoyed reading this history of the Supreme Court. Irons has written a lively and informative history. I would have like to have gotten more of the legal history and a little less of the biographical details. He tends to be quite single-minded in focusing on a specific area of law in each era. Once he covers Marbury v. Madison, his is focused on the implications of the Court for slavery. Once he passes through Reconstruction, we are into labor law. He cherry-picks his topics to satisfy a specific point of view.

My biggest complaint is with the copyediting of the Kindle version. It has become a game to highlight every typo that I find. On average, I seem to find at least one per Kindle page. What started out as a distraction has become a game, which is not what I had in mind when I purchased the book.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Truth is that it turned out to be something better. Based on its title and description I was ...

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2015

Verified Purchase

To begin with this book was not what I expected or hoped to find. Truth is that it turned out to be something better. Based on its title and description I was hoping to get a book that would tell the story of the real people whose names make up the captions in the landmark cases of the SCOTUS. The book did indeed give me some of the back story for many of these cases and it gave me a whole lot more that I wasn't expecting. I do not know how he did it but the author was able to fill in a lot of background on the justices, who appointed them, why they were appointed and how. It even managed to some how pierce the secrecy SCOTUS is known for to reveal how the voting on many of these important cases was managed and manipulated. I found the book fascinating as a review of the history of our country through the evolution of SCOTUS decisions. This is a somewhat long book and definitely not for the casual reader. In fact, if I have a criticism it is the inclusion at the beginning of a history of the 1787 Constitutional Convention. I cannot imagine anybody wanting to read this book that isn't already sufficiently aware of that history. It was unnecessary. If the author felt that some case needed historical illumination from the convention then a couple of paragraphs when needed could have been added here and there. Another criticism or actually a disappointment is that the book ends during the Clinton administration in 1992 over 20 years ago. Hopefully, the author will update this very enjoyable treatment of the history of the Supreme Court before too long. On the whole I found this book more enlightening than any Con Law class I took in law school.

25 people found this helpful

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James E Fields

White supremacy at its best. The big lie !

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2021

Verified Purchase

Wow !! Peter Irons, should be celebrated and congratulated. Tackles the greatest story of American hypocritical jurisprudence. From the ideology of the so-called framers of the constitution of the United States of America. Who were slaveholders, and Master hypocrites of Judeo-so called Christianity. This book should be a must read in every introductory Historical Black Colleges and Universities, and the so-called main stream university.(Schools of white supremacy).. Lastly he exposed some serious inhumane racists… Brother Peter Irons, you are true to the craft of the scales of justice.

2 people found this helpful

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Lauren

Do not buy the Kindle version

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2021

Verified Purchase

Like other reviewers mentioned the Kindle edition is atrocious. Not only are there typos and grammatical misplacements, entire clauses and sentences are missing as to make it almost impossible to read.

Here’s a sample bastardized from Abigail Adams’ famous letter to her husband:

“Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of care and attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion,”

The actual quote is: “Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion,”

As you can see the relevant deleted portion makes sense of the excerpt and changes the meaning. These errors are littered throughout and do a disservice to the author.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Gary Pilgrim

If you are a "We the People" disciple do not buy this book

Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is a great book that tells the true story of the Constitution and the Supreme Court cases that helped shape it into a living document. However, if you are a gun toting "We the people" type you probably will not like it. If you read this book you will find that the founding fathers did not consider women, slaves or native Americans to be people. The people were the white landed gentry from little old England.

5 people found this helpful

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A People's History of the Supreme Court: The Men and Women Whose Cases and Decisions Have Shaped Our Constitution: Revised Edition Paperback – July 25, 2006

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