Reviews

The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, America's Judicial Hero by Peter S. Canellos

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glennrj's review

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5.0

Very interesting biography of a truly original anti-racist, anti-colonialist, anti-economic elitist

steffan20's review

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informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

One of my favorite biographies that I’ve read! Tied together the long arc of mid-19th century to early 20th century thinking. I appreciated a history about the court and the way life before, during, and after the civil war helped shaped Harlan’s decisions.

I feel connected to his arc from small town man with limited scope to a man who learned to grow beyond his faults and stand up for what was right.

I also felt like it was an engaging way to introduce me to different cases decided by the Supreme Court and give me a deeper perspective of the courts history as we sit in this new, concerning moment in Supreme Court history.

bryson_handy's review

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4.0

Originally I was set to give this book a three star review. While large portions were interesting and perfectly detailed the life of Justice John Marshall Harlan, other parts were redundant or could have been excluded. However, the important subject of the book, receiving the presence of Justice Harlan in the popular imagination leads me to give it another star. The gravity of Justice Harlan’s dissent in Civil Rights, Antitrust, Labor Rights, and the Insular Cases during the Gilded Age later the framework for the modern realisation of equal rights in America. For that, the book earns an extra star. While I don’t think the book needed to be this long, it still shed light on an important figure in the historic, and modern, United States.