Rating: 
Summary: A Classic, Essential Reading For All Law Students
Review: Gideon's Trumpet is an eloquent and informative look at a very important story in the history of the United States legal system. Not only will it teach you about the evolution of the right to counsel from the case of Gideon v. Wainwright, but it teaches you much about the practices, intricacies and eccentricities of the Supreme Court and its members. This book should be considered essential and required reading for all law students. I loved it and learned much from it.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic, Essential Reading For All Law Students
Review: Gideon's Trumpet is an eloquent and informative look at a very important story in the history of the United States legal system. Not only will it teach you about the evolution of the right to counsel from the case of Gideon v. Wainwright, but it teaches you much about the practices, intricacies and eccentricities of the Supreme Court and its members. This book should be considered essential and required reading for all law students. I loved it and learned much from it.
Rating: 
Summary: The story is fascinating. The commentary, however........
Review: I saw the movie with Henry Fonda on video while I was in high school. The story was fascinating, and years later I read this book. The details of the story, again, were fascinating and Lewis relates them well. But along the way, you have to slog through a LOT of commentary about how selfless these lawyers are and how we owe them a debt of gratitude, etc. Well, fine. But it just got a little heavy-handed for my taste. The story on its own would have made that point FOR him. The constant "just-the-altruistic-lawyers-against-the-evil-system" argument is annoying mostly because it is precisely that system that ALLOWED the case to be brought forth and decided in the first place!
Rating:
Summary: The story is fascinating. The commentary, however........
Review: I saw the movie with Henry Fonda on video while I was in high school. The story was fascinating, and years later I read this book. The details of the story, again, were fascinating and Lewis relates them well. But along the way, you have to slog through a LOT of commentary about how selfless these lawyers are and how we owe them a debt of gratitude, etc. Well, fine. But it just got a little heavy-handed for my taste. The story on its own would have made that point FOR him. The constant "just-the-altruistic-lawyers-against-the-evil-system" argument is annoying mostly because it is precisely that system that ALLOWED the case to be brought forth and decided in the first place!
Rating:
Summary: A fine work of legal history
Review: In 1961, Clarence Earl Gideon was charged in the State of Florida with the offense of burglary, a felony. He asked the court to appoint an attorney to represent him. The judge refused, telling Gideon that Florida only provided counsel in capital cases. So Gideon went to trial, representing himself, and was convicted.
From the Florida State Prison in Raiford, in 1962, Clarence Earl Gideon wrote a letter to the United States Supreme Court, asking that his conviction be overturned on the grounds that he should have been given a lawyer. He was fighting an uphill battle. The Court had previously ruled in Betts v. Brady that the 6th Amendment right to counsel did not apply to the states. Gideon was asking the Court to change its mind, just twenty years later.
The Court agreed to hear his case, and appointed Abe Fortas to brief and argue it. The rest is history. Gideon won his case (and at retrial, with counsel, was acquitted), and indigent criminal defendants are now guaranteed the right to counsel. 2003 marks the 40th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright, which is the foundation stone of indigent defense throughout the United States).
Anthony Lewis was for many years the New York Times Supreme Court correspondent. His work covering the Court was knowledgeable and incisive. In this book, he explains clearly and simply the legal history that Gideon and Fortas had to face, and how this historic change came about.
Rating:
Summary: No Wonder It's A Classic!
Review: It's no surprise that Gideon's Trumpet, first published in 1964, it still being read. It's truly a classic! Five stars for story, perspective, background, style, and literary, historical, and legal interest. Read it. It's important. And it's a good book. As timely today as thirty five years ago.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!! Great Pre-Law school summer read!
Review: Links aspects of basic American History, Supreme Court History, Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure, and interesting litigation in a non-text, easy read format. Very very rare in law books to be this interesting, well written, didactic, AND entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Spellbound by the true story and the writing
Review: Simply a brief review as the book has been out for years, but is still worth your time to read how fundamental constitutional law is breathed to life from the words of our United States Constitution by the United States Supreme Court from a then backwater county, Bay County, Florida, in the Panhandle region of North Florida. Bay County's county seat is Panama City, next to the world famous Panama City Beach -- where girls go wild, spring break brings in thousands and thousands and where crime continues...
Rating: 
Summary: one person's effect on history
Review: This book chronicles the struggle of Earl Gideon to overcome his conviction. During his trial for petty theft, he had no counsel and had to defend himself. He appealed his case to the Supreme Court and was given an excellent lawyer to defend him. This is an excellent real life account of how the Supreme Court conducts its business. More importantly, it's a human document re-affirming one of the central values of our country-- that one person, with a just cause, can change the course of history. This is great reading for lawyers and law students. If you have a friend who has 'graduated' from legal thrillers, they may enjoy this intensely. Also, any fan of history will love it. Also, check out the movie with Peter Fonda. It's a great film.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Insight
Review: This is one of the better books on the Supreme Court. It covers the initial problem, the progress through the courts, to decision and brief epilogue. The insights into the inner workings of the Supreme Court are very good. I would not say unprecedented coverage, but possibly unprecedented in a single volume -- some aspects are seen in other books, just not in the same one. The author avoids any political hangups but still generates a sense of something about to happen that is politically huge. Forty years later, it is a big part of our current assumptions about law, which goes to show how powerful it was. For the author to maintain his distance must have required inordinate self control. One of the top-ten books on the Supreme Court.
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