Jack Benny (1894–1974)

Mihael Chabon's book "Fight of the Century", about important court cases brought by the American Civil Libertiess Union (ACLU), far exceeded my expectations. I thought it might be interesting, hearing about some the more important Supreme Court cases over the past 100 years, but I also feared it had the potential to be dry, technical, and lawyerly. Instead, reading about the various cases was more like reading a series of short stories - personalized, brief, informative, and interesting.

The book covers almost all the landmark court cases we're familiar with, including Board vs. Board of Education, Miranda vs. Arizona, Roe vs. Wade, Citizens United, etc., plus a number of other important cases dealing with the First Amendment, segregation, privacy and sex, immigration, campaign finance laws, due process, religious tax exemptions, Guantanamo prisoners, racial and sex discrimination, and many more. Each case is briefly summarized by way of introduction, followed by a short essay relating to the case in a personal, non-lawyerly way. Each of the short essays was written by a well known writer, sometimes as personal memoir, sometimes more as a historical narrative. Their stories are thought provoking, and describe how the cases related to specific individuals or society as a whole. The essays really help you understand the case, the logic (or illogic) of the decision, and how the cases impact the lives of those involved and the rest of society. The insights are insightful and well worth reading.… (more)