THE BARNYARD EPITHET AND OTHER OBSCENITIES

by J. Anthony Lukas ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1970

In Mr. Lukas' New York Times report of the day Dave Dellinger said ""bullshit"" to Julius Hoffman, the word appeared as ""a barnyard epithet"" on Lukas' insistence that it was not, strictly speaking, an obscenity; speaking stringently to the Court, defense attorney Weinglass asked, ""Do you consider it an obscenity for the United States Government to use napalm in the bombing of civilians in North Vietnam?"" Overwhelmingly, Lukas attests, the defendants' 'contempt' consisted of words but only Linda Morse was able to put their position on record; mediating between the public spectacle and the political event is part of his ""modest contribution."" He also represents the liberal shorn of his sweeping respect for the federal courts: prior to the Convention he had talked with the dissidents, found their intentions to be diverse, unresolved; during the trial he learned from Chicago lawyers of Hoffman's notorious partisanship for the government (and how little the assignment of cases was ""random""); he had come to see a pattern, too, in the judge's dramatic range, outraged Lee J. Cobb to grandfatherly Edmund Gwenn, in his inflections and losses of memory. The defendants are weighed also, along with their conduct of the case (six quarterbacks, a ""left fielder,"" a ""lonesome end""); and Lukas notes what 'Tom Hayden, in Trial (p. 922), regrets--that the staffwork was mostly ""shitwork"" performed by female volunteers who increasingly resented their exploitation. The two books could well be read in sequence, Lukas' as a broad but brief view from the press table, Hayden's for corroboration, divergence, extension.

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION