Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Biography of the Controversial Justice
Review: The author has done a good job researching the way a biographer should--he checks sources which some might find too tedious to dig out. So he has come up with information which shows that it is not wise to rely on autobiography for the facts in some csses. The legal analysis in regard to Douglas's work on the Court is not very profound, but I don't suppose most readers want the detail which a good law review would give to the very interesting work the Supreme Court did during Douglas' time on the bench. The unadmirable aspects of his personal life and character are set forth with devastating detail, though the author I think admires some of good work on the Court which his subject did. Anyone interested in the Supreme Court will find this book greatly absorbing, and anyone interested in the amazing events surrounding the selection of Truman as FDR's running mate in 1944 cannot omit reading this book--and looking at the photos! In this respect, if you have not read Choosing Truman: The Democratic Convention of 1944 by Robert H. Ferrell (read by me 17 May 2002) it might be wise to read it first, then read this book for new light on the events of July 1944. Reading this biography will be an event.
Rating:
Summary: Absorbingly interesting and readable
Review: The author has done a good job researching the way a biographer should--he checks sources which some might find too tedious to dig out. So he has come up with information which shows that it is not wise to rely on autobiography for the facts in some csses. The legal analysis in regard to Douglas's work on the Court is not very profound, but I don't suppose most readers want the detail which a good law review would give to the very interesting work the Supreme Court did during Douglas' time on the bench. The unadmirable aspects of his personal life and character are set forth with devastating detail, though the author I think admires some of good work on the Court which his subject did. Anyone interested in the Supreme Court will find this book greatly absorbing, and anyone interested in the amazing events surrounding the selection of Truman as FDR's running mate in 1944 cannot omit reading this book--and looking at the photos! In this respect, if you have not read Choosing Truman: The Democratic Convention of 1944 by Robert H. Ferrell (read by me 17 May 2002) it might be wise to read it first, then read this book for new light on the events of July 1944. Reading this biography will be an event.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book for law students--some biography, some law
Review: The author is a good storyteller, and mixes in lots of history, biography, and legal explanations. Douglas comes across as a man with many sides--super ambitious, very smart and hardworking, innovative in his legal opinions, and yet [a jerk] for most people to be around. Much space was reserved for telling about how Douglas grew up and strived to achieve in life--and that section was inspiring for a 30-something to read.The legal analysis was pretty crisp and easy to understand. Partly it's because Douglas himself wrote in simple terms--though often in revolutionary directions such as the Griswold privacy case. The book also describes the inner workings of the court and the discussions and rivalries among judges. With the Court so closed to most Americans, this part was really fascinating to read. Douglas was on the Court so long, that the book becomes almost a history of the court for the middle of the century. The guy had 4 wives and slept with girls 1/4 his age. His law clerks universilly despised him, and his own kids pretty much left him. He spent most of his career trying to get a better job than he had, much of the time trying to get into the White House. His legal opinions seemed to be at first just a distraction to his goal of advancing, but gradually, he devellopped a coherent philosophy of personal autonomy and civil liberty. The book gives him much credit for shaping the right of privacy in the US today. There is nothing wrong with the book. After this one I read the John Marshall biography and thought that was more monumental and "important" if that doesn't gag you. The Douglas book is great, but didn't quite leave me feeling like all Americans should read it as a duty or something. For the Marshall book, I felt proud to have read it, and reccommend it to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Good book for law students--some biography, some law
Review: The author is a good storyteller, and mixes in lots of history, biography, and legal explanations. Douglas comes across as a man with many sides--super ambitious, very smart and hardworking, innovative in his legal opinions, and yet [a jerk] for most people to be around. Much space was reserved for telling about how Douglas grew up and strived to achieve in life--and that section was inspiring for a 30-something to read. The legal analysis was pretty crisp and easy to understand. Partly it's because Douglas himself wrote in simple terms--though often in revolutionary directions such as the Griswold privacy case. The book also describes the inner workings of the court and the discussions and rivalries among judges. With the Court so closed to most Americans, this part was really fascinating to read. Douglas was on the Court so long, that the book becomes almost a history of the court for the middle of the century. The guy had 4 wives and slept with girls 1/4 his age. His law clerks universilly despised him, and his own kids pretty much left him. He spent most of his career trying to get a better job than he had, much of the time trying to get into the White House. His legal opinions seemed to be at first just a distraction to his goal of advancing, but gradually, he devellopped a coherent philosophy of personal autonomy and civil liberty. The book gives him much credit for shaping the right of privacy in the US today. There is nothing wrong with the book. After this one I read the John Marshall biography and thought that was more monumental and "important" if that doesn't gag you. The Douglas book is great, but didn't quite leave me feeling like all Americans should read it as a duty or something. For the Marshall book, I felt proud to have read it, and reccommend it to everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Biased and highly inaccurate
Review: This book gets one star because it is highly inaccurate. It should get no stars, but that is not an option. If anyone thinks Murphy is brilliant, it's only because he manages to completely fool them into thinking what he's written is reality. His research is shoddy and biased. What Murphy's agenda is is anyone's guess, but this book would be better placed in fiction than biography. Maybe someone should make a huge lie out of his life so he knows what it feels like to be slandered in such a way. Shame on you, Murphy.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun Read and a page turner
Review: This book is perhaps the easiest 500+ pages I have read in some time. Mr. Murphy's insight into the life of William O. Douglas, after fifteen years (15!!!) of research is not only fascinating, but contacts a surprising amount of humor. Reading about many of Justice Douglas' exploits, I could not help but laugh, at times so hard, I had to put the book down. As a soon-to-be law student, learning about the man behind the Supreme Court decisions helped me understand those decisions in new ways. But, and I am sure this is what motivated Mr. Murphy to undertake this task, the many facets of Justice Douglas are better than any fiction one could have invented. Buy the book. I'm glad I did.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun Read and a page turner
Review: This book is perhaps the easiest 500+ pages I have read in some time. Mr. Murphy's insight into the life of William O. Douglas, after fifteen years (15!!!) of research is not only fascinating, but contacts a surprising amount of humor. Reading about many of Justice Douglas' exploits, I could not help but laugh, at times so hard, I had to put the book down. As a soon-to-be law student, learning about the man behind the Supreme Court decisions helped me understand those decisions in new ways. But, and I am sure this is what motivated Mr. Murphy to undertake this task, the many facets of Justice Douglas are better than any fiction one could have invented. Buy the book. I'm glad I did.
Rating:
Summary: Incomplete portrait of a fascinating man
Review: This book will probably stand as the definitive examination of William O. Douglas the man. Having undertaken over a decade of research, Murphy has produced an exhaustive (though not exhausting) account of Douglas' personal life, from his boyhood in eastern Washington through his early years as a lawyer, law school professor, and New Deal administrator, to his years on the Court. While the basic details have been known for nearly a quarter century, thanks to James Simon's earlier biography of the justice, Murphy provides many new details gleaned from his research in the Douglas papers (which were closed when Simon wrote his book) and his extensive interviews with people who knew the justice offer several illustrative anecdotes. The result is an important corrective to the idealized image Douglas constructed of himself in his many autobiographical accounts, recounting his womanizing, his politicking, and his terrible treatment of his staff with considerable thoroughness. Murphy's descriptions of Douglas's failed campaigns to become the Democratic nominee for president are particularly fascinating, and alone justify the price of the book. In his effort to debunk the Douglas myths, though, the author adopts an excessively negative interpretation of the facts. Murphy claims, for example, that contrary to Douglas's assertions he did not suffer polio as a child, yet without definitive medical evidence to the contrary, such a topic can only remain an open question at best. Murphy's charge that Douglas unjustifiably inflated his time in an officer's training unit in college into army service further demonstrates Murphy's assumption of the worst from Douglas and was subsequently refuted by other scholars, who argued that Douglas' interpretation of his service was a plausible one. Such matters call Murphy's overall judgment of the justice into question, as do the open questions that his book fails to address. If Douglas was such a jerk to his secretaries and his clerks, why did they continue to work for him? What was it about Douglas that led friends to continue to support him both personally and financially? Reading this book doesn't answer these questions, nor does it reveal (as a reviewer elsewhere has pointed out) that some of his clerks became and remained his friends - gaps which mar further Murphy's presentation of Douglas' personal life. The major problem with the book, however, lies in Murphy's episodic and superficial examination of Douglas' jurisprudence. Murphy's intriguing argument is that Douglas' initial opinions were written with an eye towards positioning the justice for a run for the presidency, yet he bases this contention on a selective examination of only a few decisions. Moreover, he offers no new philosophy behind Douglas' decisions once his hopes for the White House disappeared after the 1960 election, nor does he show the extent to which his jurisprudence - self interested or otherwise - played a role in shaping constitutional law. Many significant cases from his lengthy tenure on the Court are either barely referenced or even go completely unmentioned. Such flaws are glaring considering that it is Douglas' tenure on the Supreme Court which makes him historically significant to begin with, and ultimately diminish the contribution this book makes to the historiography of the Court. While these criticisms should not discourage people interested in Douglas from reading this enjoyable book, they should be taken into account in their assessment of Murphy's overall view of his subject. Though "Wild Bill" offers much new insight into the life of this fascinating man, this biography is not the last word on the justice or his impact in American constitutional history.
Rating:
Summary: Incomplete portrait of a fascinating man
Review: This book will probably stand as the definitive examination of William O. Douglas the man. Having undertaken over a decade of research, Murphy has produced an exhaustive (though not exhausting) account of Douglas' personal life, from his boyhood in eastern Washington through his early years as a lawyer, law school professor, and New Deal administrator, to his years on the Court. While the basic details have been known for nearly a quarter century, thanks to James Simon's earlier biography of the justice, Murphy provides many new details gleaned from his research in the Douglas papers (which were closed when Simon wrote his book) and his extensive interviews with people who knew the justice offer several illustrative anecdotes. The result is an important corrective to the idealized image Douglas constructed of himself in his many autobiographical accounts, recounting his womanizing, his politicking, and his terrible treatment of his staff with considerable thoroughness. Murphy's descriptions of Douglas's failed campaigns to become the Democratic nominee for president are particularly fascinating, and alone justify the price of the book. In his effort to debunk the Douglas myths, though, the author adopts an excessively negative interpretation of the facts. Murphy claims, for example, that contrary to Douglas's assertions he did not suffer polio as a child, yet without definitive medical evidence to the contrary, such a topic can only remain an open question at best. Murphy's charge that Douglas unjustifiably inflated his time in an officer's training unit in college into army service further demonstrates Murphy's assumption of the worst from Douglas and was subsequently refuted by other scholars, who argued that Douglas' interpretation of his service was a plausible one. Such matters call Murphy's overall judgment of the justice into question, as do the open questions that his book fails to address. If Douglas was such a jerk to his secretaries and his clerks, why did they continue to work for him? What was it about Douglas that led friends to continue to support him both personally and financially? Reading this book doesn't answer these questions, nor does it reveal (as a reviewer elsewhere has pointed out) that some of his clerks became and remained his friends - gaps which mar further Murphy's presentation of Douglas' personal life. The major problem with the book, however, lies in Murphy's episodic and superficial examination of Douglas' jurisprudence. Murphy's intriguing argument is that Douglas' initial opinions were written with an eye towards positioning the justice for a run for the presidency, yet he bases this contention on a selective examination of only a few decisions. Moreover, he offers no new philosophy behind Douglas' decisions once his hopes for the White House disappeared after the 1960 election, nor does he show the extent to which his jurisprudence - self interested or otherwise - played a role in shaping constitutional law. Many significant cases from his lengthy tenure on the Court are either barely referenced or even go completely unmentioned. Such flaws are glaring considering that it is Douglas' tenure on the Supreme Court which makes him historically significant to begin with, and ultimately diminish the contribution this book makes to the historiography of the Court. While these criticisms should not discourage people interested in Douglas from reading this enjoyable book, they should be taken into account in their assessment of Murphy's overall view of his subject. Though "Wild Bill" offers much new insight into the life of this fascinating man, this biography is not the last word on the justice or his impact in American constitutional history.
Rating:
Summary: Great book about a complex character
Review: This large, but extremely readable biography of one of the 20th Century's most colorful figures is an amazing story! Before I read "Wild Bill", I was aware of the legend of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas--his liberal activism, support of the environment, and, of course, his four wives. But, when I read the book, which is based on wonderfully detailed research, and written more like a novel than an academic work, I was amazed at what I learned about the man himself. I wasn't surprised that there was more womanizing going on than the contemporary press had revealed. What I found particularly interesting, though, was how such a famous and apparently successful public figure felt he had to embellish his personal history for public consumption. For example, who would have questioned the veracity of a Supreme Court Justice when he told us that he suffered from polio as a small child, or served in Europe during World War I? Bruce Allen Murphy did--and his book not only gives us the true facts of William O. Douglas's life, but helps us understand what drove him to exaggerate his life story, and why he remained unfulfilled despite his many accomplishments. For those of us who want to know how he discovered these hidden truths, Murphy provides copious and detailed endnotes, but none of that intrudes on the more casual reader. One need not be a Court follower to enjoy this amazing story--just one who enjoys understanding the all-too-human insecurities and foibles of even the most famous among us. If you like Caro, Morris or McCullough, you will not want to miss this book!
|
