My father was a lawyer, so people sometimes assume that I wanted to follow in his footsteps. In fact, it was the opposite; I saw how hard he worked and how much of a grind the job could be. What really sparked my interest was the great books and movies about the legal profession. Eventually, I was lucky enough to spend fourteen years as a prosecutor, and let me tell you: the job is even better than you’d see on the page or on the screen. I loved the work while I had the job, and now I love telling stories. I hope you’ll be as entertained and inspired as I was by these books.
The most common question I hear from viewers and readers, by far, is this: “How the hell does he get away with it?” The “he” can vary, but it always refers to somebody who is powerful, or rich, or famous, or some combination of those things.
On some level, it’s obvious how this happens. The rich and powerful get away with things that an ordinary person can’t. But consider: How exactly do they pull it off? And on the flip side, how do we hold accountable those people whoknow how to game the system? This book takes the reader inside our nation’s top prosecutors’ offices, and inside the heads of the savviest kingpins, and teaches us how to turn their tactics against them.
Thurgood Marshall is most remembered for being the first Black person to serve as a Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
But his career before he took the bench is astonishing. He went right into the heart of the racist South in the 1950s, fought against bone-chilling injustice, and nearly was lynched himself. You’ll be horrified (by what Marshall encountered) and inspired (by his work) at the same time.
* Winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction * Nominated for a 2013 Edgar Award * Book of the Year (Non-fiction, 2012) The Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor
In 1949, Florida's orange industry was booming, and citrus barons got rich on the backs of cheap Jim Crow labor. To maintain order and profits, they turned to Willis V. McCall, a violent sheriff who ruled Lake County with murderous resolve. When a white seventeen-year-old Groveland girl cried rape, McCall was fast on the trail of four young blacks who dared to envision a future for themselves beyond the citrus…
Civil lawsuits often get second-billing to criminal cases, but this book about a case of mass environmental contamination in a small town in Massachusetts one has all the traits of a legal thriller: an astonishing injustice, stunning twists and turns, and enormous consequences for all involved.
More than once, I gasped while reading this, and it’s one of the few books I ever re-read. This has since become a major-release movie (starring John Travolta), but the book is even better.
The story of a lawyer's battle to win compensation from two of America's largest industrial giants. He fought on behalf of 21 families whose lives were wrecked by illness and death due to the alleged poisoning of their town well. This case became renowned in American legal history.
This book – about the 1980s prosecutions by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York – made me want to become a prosecutor. (I eventually was lucky enough to become part of the SDNY myself.)
You’ll see the massive power of federal prosecutors to go after ultra-wealthy corporate criminals; the ride is bumpy, with all manner of in-house drama and courtroom surprises, but the result changed the history of criminal justice in the U.S.
Chronicles the dealings of four men who wreaked havoc with the American securities system--Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, Martin Siegel, and Dennis Levine
While this memoir of the author’s first year at Harvard Law School is set in the 1970s, its lessons remain relevant today.
With humor, irreverence, and candor, Turow shows the reader what it’s really like to go to the nation’s most prestigious law school. You’ll be enlightened, intimidated, inspired, amused, and terrified – much like actually attending law school itself.
"A wonderful book...it should be read by anyone who has ever contemplated going to law school. Or anyone who has ever worried about being human."—The New York Times
It was a year of terrors and triumphs, of depressions and elations, of compulsive work, pitiless competition, and, finally, mass hysteria. It was Scott Turow's first year at the oldest, biggest, most esteemed center of legal education in the United States. Turow's experiences at Harvard Law School, where freshmen are dubbed One Ls, parallel those of first-year law students everywhere. His gripping account of this critical, formative year in the life of…
Preet was my boss at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and is now a close friend.
He’s a gifted storyteller – you’ll hear about prosecutions of everybody from Wall Street titans to a cannibal cop – and he offers a fascinating and intellectually accessible examination of the vital and unique role played by the prosecutor in our democracy.
As United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara prosecuted some of the most high-profile cases in America. In Doing Justice he takes us inside America's criminal justice system to deliver a powerful meditation on justice - what it is, who dispenses it, how it works - and what the…
I am a highly experienced outdoorsman, musician, songwriter, and backcountry guide who chose teaching as a day job. As a writer, however, I am a promoter of creative and literary nonfiction, especially nonfiction that features a thematic thread, whether it be philosophical, conservation, historical, or even unique experiential. The thread I used for thirty years of teaching high school and honors English was the thread of Conservation, as exemplified by authors like Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Edward O. Wilson, Al Gore, Henry David Thoreau, as well as many other more contemporary authors.
I have woven numerous delightful and descriptive true life stories, many from my adventures as an outdoorsman and singer songwriter, into my life as a high school English teacher. I think you'll find this work both entertaining as well as informative, and I hope you enjoy the often lighthearted repartee and dialogue that enhances the stories and experiences.
When I started teaching in the early 1990s, I brought into the classroom with me my passions for nature, folk music, and creativity. This book holds something new and engaging with every chapter and can be enjoyed by all sorts of readers, particularly those who enjoy nonfiction that employs wit, wisdom, humor, and even some down-to-earth philosophy.
Creativity, Teaching, and Natural Inspiration follows the evolution of a high school English teacher as he develops a creative and innovative teaching style despite being juxtaposed against a public education system bent on didactic, normalizing regulations and political demands. Doherty crafts an engaging nonfiction story that utilizes memoir, anecdote, poetry, and dialogue to explore how mixing creativity and pedagogy can change the way budding students visualize creative writing: A chunk of firewood plunked on a classroom table becomes part of a sawmill, a mine timber, an Anasazi artifact...it also becomes a poem, a song, an essay, and a memoir. The…
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