The Great Trials of Clarence Darrow: The Landmark Cases of Leopold and Loeb, John T. Scopes, and Ossian Sweet - Paperback

by Donald McRae (Author)

"Wonderfully evocative... Donald McRae captures the Great Defender in all his complexity.... A joy to read." -- Kevin Boyle, National Book Award-winning author of Arc of Justice

"Astonishingly vivid." --James Tobin, Award-winning author of Ernie Pyle's War

The story of the three dramatic trials that resurrected the life and career of America's most colorful--and controversial--defense attorney: Clarence Darrow. Many books, plays, and movies have covered Darrow and the trials of Leopold and Loeb, John T. Scopes, and Ossian Sweet before: Geoffrey Cowan's The People v. Clarence Darrow; Simon Baatz's For the Thrill of It; Kevin Boyle's Arc of Justice; Meyer Levin's Compulsion and the film adaptation of the same name; Inherit the Wind; but few, if any, have achieved the intimacy and immediacy of Donald McRae's The Great Trials of Clarence Darrow.

Front Jacket

One of the most famous, if controversial, lawyers in America, defense attorney Clarence Darrow was sixty-seven years old in 1924. His reputation was in tatters after a scandalous trial in Los Angeles and his life and career appeared almost over. Then, in rapid succession, he found himself at the forefront of three remarkable courtroom dramas. Each was dubbed the Trial of the Century by the press: the trial of teenage Chicago thrill killers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb; Tennessee's infamous Scopes Monkey Trial, later immortalized in the play Inherit the Wind; and the incendiary case of Ossian Sweet, an African American man accused of murder while defending his Detroit home against a white mob.

In The Great Trials of Clarence Darrow, award-winning author Donald McRae re-creates these momentous courtroom battles with breathtaking vividness--and offers a compelling, intimate, and unforgettable portrait of a true American icon.

Back Jacket

One of the most famous, if controversial, lawyers in America, defense attorney Clarence Darrow was sixty-seven years old in 1924. His reputation was in tatters after a scandalous trial in Los Angeles and his life and career appeared almost over. Then, in rapid succession, he found himself at the forefront of three remarkable courtroom dramas. Each was dubbed "the Trial of the Century" by the press: the trial of teenage Chicago "thrill killers" Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb; Tennessee's infamous Scopes Monkey Trial, later immortalized in the play Inherit the Wind; and the incendiary case of Ossian Sweet, an African American man accused of murder while defending his Detroit home against a white mob.

In The Great Trials of Clarence Darrow, award-winning author Donald McRae re-creates these momentous courtroom battles with breathtaking vividness--and offers a compelling, intimate, and unforgettable portrait of a true American icon.