Review (PDF) The Best Defense: The Courtroom Confrontations Of America's Most Outspoken Lawyer Of Last Resort-- The Lawyer Who Won The Claus Von Bulow Appeal
The author presents his most famous, and infamous, cases and clients, and in the process, takes a critical, informed look at a legal system that he regards as deeply corrupt.
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books ed edition (May 12, 1983)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 039471380X
ISBN-13: 978-0394713809
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.1 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #213,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #23 in Books > Law > Administrative Law > Civil Law #336 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Law Enforcement #347 in Books > Law > Criminal Law > Law Enforcement
The author of this book is a law professor who does appellant work part time. Unlike the cut and thrust of jury work appeals have generally been seen as dry rarefied and uninteresting. The author however writes in an entertaining and self deprecating way which brings the process alive. It is one of the most enjoyable books written about the law that I have read for some time.The author also writes about the cases he loses. So many books by advocates focus on the success and are about self grandisment.Overall the impression given is how much of a dogged slog it is to achieve justice in the American System and how much calculation and thought has to go into every strategy and move. One of the amazing things in the book is how the author is so critical of a number of judges and how willing he is to make those criticisms.It is an excellent book which shows the many flaws and weakness of the American justice system.
this book succeeds on many levels and as such should appeal to many readers:1. as an explanation for how our judicial system is setup and operates;2. putting a face and personal touch behind many famous (porn star harry reams, prince of the city robert leuci, etc. etc.) and less famous, but just as interesting, trials;3. as a series of engaging human interest stories;4. as a chronicle of the early careers of now wildly famous people like, for example, rudy guiliani who appears as a young prosecutor in the case involving robert leuci.this book was written at a time when dershowitz was more focused on trials as opposed to politics, so it reads without the over tones of his later works. this will be good for readers that don't agree with his politics and it's a refreshing change during this time where there are so many books that carry a political agenda.each chapter averages about 20 pages and discusses a different case. so you can read one a night or a polish off a few while travelling. dershowitz' delivery is completely candid about the the conversations and people involved in each case. i was continually surprised about the intimate details revealed for each case.i think this book will have great appeal to readers of spy-thrillers because they will be entertained by the stories, plot twists and uncertain endings (dershowitz discusses cases in which he won and lost), while at the same time discovering many realities of our courts and beyond.
Dershowitz is a great writer. Love him or hate him, you can't deny this man's writing ability. His style is relatively informal, avoiding overly-intelectual language and instead opting to use plain language. This style allows the reader to focus on the content and ideas behind text, rather than constantly look words up in the dictionary. In this book, Dershowitz retells some of the more gripping cases he's been involved in. The book is partly crime novel, taking the reader thru the case step by step. The book is partly theoretical, using the cases to instruct on the way the legal system should or does work. I recommend the book highly for the law student, lawyer, and lay person as it will instruct you to how the criminal justice system really is.
Dershowitz has become a highly controversial writer and personality for a number of reasons: he has taken on unpopular cases, he has an enormous ego, and he is an opinionated iconoclast unafraid to offer his views on Judaism, the Middle East and other political issues with the same sense of total certainty as he does when it comes to his true area of expertise: constituional law.All of that aside, he is a true legal scholar, and a great story teller (or at least he was when this book was written) and this is almost certainly his very best book. Compelling, almost riveting, Dershowitz makes the case for civil rights and constitutional defense as well ashe does anywhere else, but here he also tells a story leavened by a partial memoir of growing up orthodox in Boro Park Brooklyn in the 1960s.This is a great book, not to be missed.
Forget what you've seen on television. This book reveals Prof. Dershowitz for what he truly is--a principled civil libertarian of the first order. I was fortunate enough to study criminal law with Prof. Dershowitz, and this book recounts the very best of his early "war stories." It's as readable as fiction, and far more interesting! Read this book and find out why William F. Buckley, whose politics differ widely from Prof. Dershowitz's, called for him to receive the Medal of Freedom for his "fundamentalist" defense of the American legal system. From Soviet Jews, to teenagers on death row, to porn-star Harry Reems, Prof. Dershowitz has defended the powerless and the unpopular and suffered the criticism of others with good humor and a constant willingness to debate. I read this book in high school, and again in law school. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Professor Dershowitz has written an insightful page-turner that takes you through a few of his early cases. Interesting to walk through the different legal arguments made on the different cases. Disappointed to read about the somewhat rampant impropriety that prosecutors and judges engaged in within those cases. Fun read!
The Best Defense: The Courtroom Confrontations of America's Most Outspoken Lawyer of Last Resort-- the Lawyer Who Won the Claus von Bulow Appeal Reversal of Fortune: Inside the Von Bulow Case Last Resort: Psychosurgery and the Limits of Medicine (Cambridge Studies in the History of Medicine) Berlin-Alexanderplatz: Drehbuch von Alfred Doblin und Hans Wilhelm zu Phil Jutzis Film von 1931 (FILMtext) (German Edition) La invención de la naturaleza: El mundo nuevo de Alexander von Humboldt / The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World (Spanish Edition) Confrontations: Derrida/Heidegger/Nietzsche Legal Thriller: The Spy Files, A Courtroom Drama: A Brent Marks Legal Thriller (Brent Marks Lawyer Legal Thrillers Series Books Book 7) Resort Development (Development Handbook series) What Every Good Lawyer Wants You to Know: An Insider's Guide on How to Reduce Stress, Reduce Costs and Get the Most From Your Lawyer Northwest Top 10 Garden Guide: The 10 Best Roses, 10 Best Trees--the 10 Best of Everything You Need - The Plants Most Likely to Thrive in Your Garden ... Most Important Tasks in the Garden Each Month We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! And Other Works: The Collected Plays of Dario Fo, Volume One (Collected Plays of Dario Fo (Paperback)) We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! And Other Plays: The Collected Plays of Dario Fo, Volume 1 Santa Claus Is on a Diet! Derecho Penal y Sociedad. Estudios Sobre Las Obras De Günther Jakobs y Claus Roxin, y Sobre Las Estructuras Modernas De La Imputación. Tomo 1 (Spanish Edition) Santa Claus in Baghdad and Other Stories about Teens in the Arab World Prepping and Defense Box Set (6 in 1): Concealed Carry, Home Defense, Prepper's First-Aid Kit, Survival Pantry, SHTF Stockpile and Many Other Useful Tips for Real Preppers (Prepping & Homesteading) Department of Defense Instruction DoDI 5000.02 The Operation of the Defense Acquisition System January 2015 The 10 Best Power Punches for Boxing, Martial Arts, MMA and Self-Defense (The 10 Best Series Book 6) The Psychology of Design: Creating Consumer Appeal A Legal Strategist's Guide to Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Practice
