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Doing Justice: A Prosecutor's Thoughts on Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law by Preet Bharara
branch_c's review
3.0
An informative and entertaining book that reads like a transcript of one of Bharara’s podcasts. It’s filled with anecdotes from his career that effectively illustrate his philosophy of justice, which boils down to a belief that although the system may be imperfect, justice can be served if the individual people that make up the system behave with integrity and good intentions.
The problem, of course, is that people in general don’t always do that, something that’s clearly demonstrated by the defendants in the cases described here. Of course we can hope that those who decide to pursue criminal justice professions skew toward the better aspects of human nature, and in fact they are an appropriate target audience for this book. Young lawyers could certainly do worse than to pick up some lessons from these pages.
Maybe it’s partially because I’ve listened to so many of his podcast episodes, but I find that the author’s voice really comes through in the writing. Yes, even with a bit of name dropping and humble bragging - it adds to Bharara’s bold personality and gives a ring of truth to the stories in the book. And at least he’s self-aware enough to include the time that his ten-year-old daughter called him a drama queen after reading a newspaper article about him.
I’ve never had any particular interest in law or criminal justice, but even so I’ve found the podcast to be fairly engaging, and this book is too.
The problem, of course, is that people in general don’t always do that, something that’s clearly demonstrated by the defendants in the cases described here. Of course we can hope that those who decide to pursue criminal justice professions skew toward the better aspects of human nature, and in fact they are an appropriate target audience for this book. Young lawyers could certainly do worse than to pick up some lessons from these pages.
Maybe it’s partially because I’ve listened to so many of his podcast episodes, but I find that the author’s voice really comes through in the writing. Yes, even with a bit of name dropping and humble bragging - it adds to Bharara’s bold personality and gives a ring of truth to the stories in the book. And at least he’s self-aware enough to include the time that his ten-year-old daughter called him a drama queen after reading a newspaper article about him.
I’ve never had any particular interest in law or criminal justice, but even so I’ve found the podcast to be fairly engaging, and this book is too.
reluctantacademic's review
4.0
Insights into the prosecuter's side of criminal law and some of the tough decisions facing our LEOs regarding to charge or not to charge, and what amount of transparency serves the public interest while not infringing on the rights of those investigated but not charged. A bit repetitive in places, something I suspect tighter editing would have corrected, but I understand there is a rush to print right now given the timeliness of these missives. If you've not availed yourself of Stay Tuned with Preet, I heartily recommend the podcast.
zhzhang's review against another edition
5.0
Such an honest book with intriguing stories throughout the book, very thought-provoking.
anniefox's review against another edition
5.0
Clearly written, filled with stories of justice and injustice, and infused with wisdom and humanity. Well done, Preet!
hmonkeyreads's review
4.0
Preet is great and I love his thoughtful takes on just about everything.
I nursed this one along for most of the year because reading about heavier topics isn't really my jam right now because the world weighs me down when I think about it too much.
Also - go listen to his podcasts: Stay Tuned and Café Insider.
I nursed this one along for most of the year because reading about heavier topics isn't really my jam right now because the world weighs me down when I think about it too much.
Also - go listen to his podcasts: Stay Tuned and Café Insider.
solaana's review
5.0
I listened to the audiobook, which was honestly like a 9ish hour long version of his podcast. Which is exactly what I wanted. In terms of content, I genuinely liked it. Lots of stories, explanations of how the Justice system is supposed to work, stuff like that. Don't know that I could have read this as quickly, but it was genuinely interesting.