Taking the Stand
My Life in the Law
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3.6 • 8 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
#1 New York Times bestselling author Alan Dershowitz recounts his extraordinary coming of age in this legal autobiography, as well as the cases that have changed American jurisprudence over the past fifty years, most of which he has personally been involved in.
“Overflowing with fascinating and funny vignettes involving his cases and clients, and probing and provocative insights into contemporary legal controversies.”—The Boston Globe
Alan Dershowitz, the preeminent defense lawyer in America today, has been called the “winningest appellate criminal defense lawyer in history.” A professor at Harvard Law School since the age of twenty-five, he has led or been part of the defense team for such storied clients as Bill Clinton, Julian Assange, O. J. Simpson, Claus von Bülow, Mia Farrow, Jeffrey MacDonald, Patty Hearst, Mike Tyson, and countless others.
In Taking the Stand, Dershowitz describes his evolution as a lawyer—from a C-minus student in Yeshiva High School to the youngest full professor in the history of Harvard Law School. In his #1 New York Times bestselling book Chutzpah, Alan described his Jewish life. In Taking the Stand, he looks at the people and events that have helped to shape his ideas about the law. He describes his formative years as a clerk for the United States Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. In the course of his career, he confronts the challenges of First Amendment law, the ongoing tension between individual freedom and national security, the questionable science often employed to prosecute accused murderers, the evolution of civil rights—and why the abortion rights debate in society hasn’t moved forward since Roe v. Wade.
Filled with unforgettable cases and inside legal “baseball,” Taking the Stand is a deeply personal account of one of the legendary legal minds of our time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Dershowitz, Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard, is one of the most high-profile lawyers in America, known for his work on newsworthy criminal cases, including the defense of Claus von B low, who was accused of killing his socialite wife. Dershowitz presented the defense's appeals in the murder trial of DuPont heir John DuPont, as well as in Mike Tyson's rape case. Outside the criminal arena, he has had a hand in cases involving false confessions, the right of self-defense for battered women, obscenity cases, and assisted suicide. In the course of Dershowitz's book, several things become apparent: he is smart, he knows he is smart, and he wants readers to know he is smart. The emphasis he places on his own importance can be off-putting and his habit of illuminating noteworthy issues through the prism of his own egotism distracts from his message. That said, he raises provocative questions about the many dilemmas in modern American jurisprudence, including those related to the separation of church and state, affirmative action, human rights, and the right to privacy. All in all, Dershowitz offers much of interest despite overestimating his own role in many events.
