Honorable Justice: The Life of Oliver Wendell Holmes

by Sheldon M. Novick

Book Overview

The first biography of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, the best known figure in the history of American law. His book The Common Law is still in print after 100 years, and is considered to be one of the great works of American legal history.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316613258
• ISBN13: 9780316613255
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 522 Pages
• Weight: 2.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Excellent

The book was in perfect shape except for some marks to bring certain paragraphs to the reader's attention. However, there were not too many.

Outstanding

This is an excellent book for any pre-law student who is interested in learning more about Justice Holmes. I read the first review that was written by another reader, and was shocked. Sheldon M. Novick did an excellent job researching the material and writing it in such a manner that any reader can understand. Before reading this book, I did not know anything about Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. However, sense completing it, I feel that I know every aspect of his life. The book begins with his childhood in Boston, Massachusetts. It takes you into the 19th century in time when cobblestones were the roads many of the carriages and early motor vehicles drove on. It describes in detail critical information about Justice Holmes and how his character was shaped by his parents, and mentors that included former presidents. I was especially impressed with the role he played as a son, a brother, and a devoted and caring husband. The book describes his role as a judge in the Supreme Judicial Court in Boston, and moves on onto his appointment by President Theodore Roosevelt to the Supreme Court. It helped me understand many of the case's I had to brief last semester. This is my first review, so I will end here.

A must read for those interested in justice and history.

I read it as a books-on-tape title. I enjoyed listening to it, it was quite fascinating learning about the life of a man who fought in the Civil War and went on to become a Justice of the Supreme Court of the USA; his significant influence into our country's judicial thinking has been a source of inspiration for me to further understand it and its origins