Legendary U.S. Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes is not only a giant in American legal history but is also remarkable for having been a master prose stylist. This collection, edited by Richard Posner, who is himself a federal judge, contains essays, speeches, letters to friends, and legal opinions that give the reader a highly enjoyable look into the thoughts that emanated from a very active mind.
From Library Journal
Oliver Wendell Holmes is a major figure not only in American law but also in American letters. Edited by noted judge and legal scholar, Posner, this excellent one-volume anthology offers a mixture of Holmes's letters, speeches, and judicial opinions. Posner's introductory essay provides a fine framework for understanding Holmes's varied attitudes and multiple approaches to judicial issues. Posner sees Holmes's distinctive contribution as a "writer-philosopher" who placed literary/rhetorical skills and philosophical insight into legal work, and Holmes's correspondences with major late 19th-and early 20th-century personalities reveals that era's intellectual ferment. Posner's skillful analysis of Holmes's work is a worthwhile contribution to current American political/legal discussions.- Steven Puro, St. Louis Univ.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., has been called the greatest jurist and legal scholar in the history of the English-speaking world. In this collection of his speeches, opinions, and letters, Richard Posner reveals the fullness of Holmes' achievements as judge, historian, philosopher, and master of English style. Thematically arranged, the volume covers a rich variety of subjects from aging and death to themes in politics, personalities, and law. Posner's substantial introduction firmly places this wealth of material in its proper biographical and historical context.
"A first-rate prose stylist, [Holmes] was perhaps the most quotable of all judges, as this ably edited volume shows."--Washington Post Book World
"Brilliantly edited, lucidly organized, and equipped with a compelling introduction by Judge Posner, [this book] is one of the finest single-volume samplers of any author's work I have seen. . . . Posner has fully captured the acrid tang of him in this masterly anthology."--Terry Teachout, National Review
"Excellent. . . . A worthwhile contribution to current American political/legal discussions."--Library Journal
"The best source for the reader who wants a first serious acquaintance with Holmes."--Thomas C. Grey, New York Review of Books
The Essential Holmes: Selections from the Letters, Speeches, Judicial Opinions, and Other Writings of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. ANNOTATION
An anthology of selections from the letters, speeches, judicial opinions, and other writings of the great jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Spanning the half century from 1881, this collection reveals Holmes not only as a powerful legal scholar and intellectual, but as a preeminent figure in American thought, sensibility, and expression.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., has been called the greatest jurist and legal scholar in the history of the English-speaking world--towering, brilliant, profound. His speeches, opinions, and letters rank among the most powerful documents of American political and intellectual life. By gathering a rich selection of writings in one volume, Richard A. Posner reveals Holmes in the fullness of his achievement as judge, historian, philosopher, belletrist, and master of English style. Although interest in Holmes appears on the rise of late--biographies and studies of his thought are flourishing--little of his actual writing is readily available; the bulk of Holmes's 10,000 personal letters, 2,000 judicial opinions, and numerous speeches and essays have remained unpublished. This anthology, which spans the half-century from 1881, when The Common Law was published, through his Supreme Court appointment in 1902, to the early 1930s, charts the interplay between Holmes's temperament and the social and intellectual struggles of his times. Thematically arranged, the volume moves from general to specific and covers a rich variety of subjects from aging and death to themes in politics, personalities, and law. Posner's substantial introduction firmly places this wealth of material in its proper biographical and historical context. Destined to become the standard one-volume edition of Holmes's writings, this anthology reveals Holmes not only as a great jurist and intellectual, but as a preeminent figure in American thought, sensibility, and expression.
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