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Rating: 
Summary: Profiles in courage
Review: A powerful testament to the will of the people to prevail no matter what the cost. One of the very best books I read in grad school, selected for an undergrad history class who were inspired and challenged by it. Judge for yourself if Irons is fair-minded and consider the shrill quality of the dissenting reviews. Well worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Take it with a grain of salt
Review: Certainly, the fact that the author has an ideological ax to grind makes this a much less enjoyable read than it should have been. Even though I had a lot of sympathy for the people profiled in the book, I felt like I was being banged over the head with their cases, or more to the point, that I was only getting to hear the lawyer for one side make his arguments. Fortunately, after Mr. Irons gives the history of each case (along with A LOT of gratuitous conservative-bashing), he lets each plaintiff tell his/her story. These essays are actually much more thoughtful and even-handed than the rest of the book, and show most of the people to be driven more by common sense and fairness than by ideology. The essay by Dan Seeger (a conscientious objector who refused to check a box indicating whether or not he believed in a Supreme Being) is especially good. If you can tune out the author's liberal bias, you can actually learn a lot about how ordinary Americans turn into "test cases" that end up either expanding or restricting our freedoms.
Rating: 
Summary: Peter Irons, The Courage of Their Convictions (1990)
Review: I have used this book three times in UC and CSU public law classes have taught: Intro to Judicial Process, Intro to Judicial Politics, and American Government. It is a personalized, almost biographical approach to leading constitutional rights cases, replete with the "human" as well as "legal" story behind each of the 16 cases. Though short on some of the important legal arguments at the Supreme Court level, it covers well the dispositons and judicial personalities of the lower courts. More importantly, however, it deals with the suffering and courage of the litigants themselves. As such, it is a terrific book for both introductory American Government and judicial politics/process courses at the college level. I have also used Irons' new book JIM CROW'S CHILDREN in my upper division course on Racial Equality and the U.S. Supreme Court at U.C., Irvine, just this summer.
Rating:
Summary: Peter Irons, The Courage of Their Convictions (1990)
Review: I have used this book three times in UC and CSU public law classes have taught: Intro to Judicial Process, Intro to Judicial Politics, and American Government. It is a personalized, almost biographical approach to leading constitutional rights cases, replete with the "human" as well as "legal" story behind each of the 16 cases. Though short on some of the important legal arguments at the Supreme Court level, it covers well the dispositons and judicial personalities of the lower courts. More importantly, however, it deals with the suffering and courage of the litigants themselves. As such, it is a terrific book for both introductory American Government and judicial politics/process courses at the college level. I have also used Irons' new book JIM CROW'S CHILDREN in my upper division course on Racial Equality and the U.S. Supreme Court at U.C., Irvine, just this summer.
Rating:
Summary: Individual Power and the Judicial Process
Review: I work at a University Library and see many, many books. This book caught my eye and I found myself compelled to read it. The situation in our government seems to leave many people I talk to feeling discouraged and powerless. Iron's book reminds us that we don't have to be powerless.
I encourage High School teachers to read the book and consider assigning at least parts of it to their students. Most Americans don't understand our legal system or the power we have as individuals to stand up for our civil rights.
Rating:
Summary: The Point?
Review: Irons does a great job telling the story of 16 individuals who brought their case to the Supreme Court, cases that often times went against the grain of society at the time. In this regard, he did a fine (although unabashedly ideologically biased) job. The only problem is: what is the point of reading a whole book about the people that brought cases to the Court, when the ultimate importance of the Court lies in the nine justices and the decisions they make. The people in this book have very, very compelling stories. But that is not the point of the Supreme Court. A Supreme Court case by definition has broad implications that go very far past the individual party in the case. For example, Bowers v. Hardwick obviously had an impact on the claimant in the case, a homosexual who wanted the Court to rule that the right to privacy protected consensual sex for all people, gay and straight. That claim obviously goes beyond the Hardwick, the individual, having a greater impact on society as a whole. So I am impressed by the fact that individuals like Mr. Hardwick have the guts to make such arguments, which I think is Mr. Irons's point. I'm not sure the relevance of that point, however, because the ultimate authority lies with the Supreme Court and the ultimate impact is on society as a whole.
Rating:
Summary: Profiles in courage
Review: Irons does of fine job of describing the uphill battle that a variety of individuals have faced in asserting their basic rights as Americans. Some of these cases righted grevious wrongs, and others are more open to debate. But then, the law is not a popularity contest. The fact that humble and even unpopular cases can nonetheless get their day in court, and get fair and due process, is something that every American should be proud of. It's something worth remembering and defending, something worth protecting, and Peter Irons shows you *why* in this book.
Rating:
Summary: The Courage of Their Convictions: Sixteen Americans
Review: This was a fantastic book! People may know about some Supreme Court decisions and its impact but I do not think people understand why such important cases were brought before the Supreme Court. We never learn in school who these people were, (they are everyday people) and exactly how much courage and determination it takes to fight your case to the Supreme Court (after all I think S.C hears about 1% of all cases filed to the Court). Irons is an academic but boy you can read this in a day-this is not a dreaded book you are assigned to read for school.
Rating:
Summary: The Courage of Their Convictions: Sixteen Americans
Review: This was a fantastic book! People may know about some Supreme Court decisions and its impact but I do not think people understand why such important cases were brought before the Supreme Court. We never learn in school who these people were, (they are everyday people) and exactly how much courage and determination it takes to fight your case to the Supreme Court (after all I think S.C hears about 1% of all cases filed to the Court). Irons is an academic but boy you can read this in a day-this is not a dreaded book you are assigned to read for school.
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