Paper: 978-0-226-13650-9 | Electronic: 978-0-226-13651-6
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226136516.001.0001
AVAILABLE FROM
University of Chicago Press (paper, ebook)Brytewave (CafeScribe-Follett Higher Ed)
ebrary
EBSCO eBooks (formerly NetLibrary)
Kno
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Published for the first time in 1957, Attorney for the Damned collects Darrow’s most influential summations and supplements them with scene-setting explanations and comprehensive notes by Arthur Weinberg. Darrow confronts issues that remain relevant over half a century after his death: First Amendment rights, capital punishment, and the separation of church and state. With an insightful forward by Justice William O. Douglas, this volume serves as a powerful reminder of Darrow’s relevance today.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
REVIEWS
"Attorney for the Damned is a volume that remains as relevant today as on the days Clarence Darrow delivered his powerful arguments. Substantively, Darrow presented a near-prophetic vision of justice and morality on many of the issues that continue to engender passionate debate. Rhetorically, Darrow’s arguments are the most fertile source available for those wishing to develop the skills of a great trial lawyer or simply to learn how to argue persuasively. We would all be so much richer were Clarence Darrow alive today. Short of that, this volume keeps his spirit and essence alive in ways that allow us and future generations to continue to learn from his extraordinary battles."
This book can make you despair about the country, and cherish it for the brilliance and honesty of speeches like these."
— Tom Geoghegan, author of The Secret Lives of Citizens
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
Part One: Against Vengeance
Crime and Criminals: ADDRESS, CHICAGO, 1902: Inmates of County Jail in Chicago get a lecture on revolutionary theories of crime
The Crime of Compulsion: LEOPOLD AND LOEB, CHICAGO, 1924: Teen-age sons of two millionaires attempt the perfect crime—kidnaping and murder
Is Capital Punishment a Wise Policy?: DEBATE, NEW YORK, 1924: Darrow debates Judge Talley who challenged Darrow's views on crime and capital punishment
The "Unwritten Low": THE MASSIE CASE, HONOLULU, 1932: A strange and puzzling case, a study of psychology; kidnaping and murder because of honor
Part Two: Against Prejudice
Freedom Knows No Limits: THE COMMUNIST TRIAL, CHICAGO, 1920: Twenty members of the Communist Labor party are charged with "conspiracy to advocate the overthrow of the government by force."
You Can't Teach That!: THE SCOPES EVOLUTION CASE, DAYTON, TENNESSEE, 1925: Darrow meets William Jennings Bryan in the famous "Monkey Trial."
You Can't Live There!: THE SWEET CASE, DETROIT, 1926: A Negro family moves into a white neighborhood. A mob attempts to get them to move. One of the mob is killed. Dr. Sweet and friends are indicted for murder
Part Three: Against Privilege
Somewhere There Is a Conspiracy: THE KIDD CASE, OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN, 1898: Kidd a union organizer, is charged with conspiracy, growing out of a strike in the large sash-and-door factory in Oshkosh
Strike, Arbitration: ANTHRACITE MINERS, SCRANTON AND PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, 1903: Darrow represents the United Mine Workers' union before President Theodore Roosevelt's Anthracite Miner Commission, investigating conditions in the mines
A Governor Is Murdered: STEVE ADAMS, WALLACE, IDAHO, 1907; HAYWOOD, MOYER AND PETTIBONE, BOISE, IDAHO, 1907: Steve Adams, the prologue to the Haywood case. Haywood, first of three union leaders tried for the murder of ex-Governor Steunenberg; the confessi
Part Four: For Justice
They Tried to Get Me: DARROW IN HIS OWN DEFENSE, LOS ANGELES, 1912: Darrow is indicted and tried for attempted bribe of a juror in the McNamara case. He accuses his enemies as conspirators against his freedom
John Brown 1800-1859: "One of the purest and bravest and highest-minded patriots of any age."
John Peter Altgeld 1847-1902: "A lover of his fellow-men."
Sources
Selected Bibliography
Index