Clarence Darrow, Selected Works: 1893-1917

Clarence Darrow was the most electrifying courtroom voice of his generation, and these collected speeches, essays, and debates from 1893 to 1917 preserve that voice in all its force. Here is the lawyer who defended John T. Scopes against the state of Tennessee, who fought to save the lives of the Loeb and Leopold murderers by arguing not that they were innocent but that society itself bore responsibility for their crimes, who stood as a giant of progressive causes in an era when being progressive required real courage. The pieces in this volume reveal Darrow at his finest: forensic, witty, humane, and unafraid to challenge the conventional wisdom of his time. He argued against capital punishment when most Americans supported it. He defended the unpopular and the reviled when taking their cases meant ruin. He deployed logic and empathy in equal measure, sometimes in the same breath. Whether addressing labor disputes, academic freedom, or the nature of justice itself, Darrow speaks across the century with startling relevance. This is essential reading for anyone interested in legal history, the art of persuasion, or the foundations of modern American liberalism.