TRIALS THAT MADE HEADLINES

by Alice Fleming ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 29, 1975

Headlines are about all that these trials have in common, being variously legal and political in their significance, and ranging from the Boston Massacre case and the Barry Croswell libel trial in 1804 to the Scopes trial and Nuremberg. Except for the relatively unfamiliar Croswell case, Fleming doesn't shed any new light on the issues involved, nor is there any visible thread of continuity as the pat summaries of each episode often seem to contradict each other; thus the Civil War is laid ""in some measure to the hatred stirred up by John Brown,"" and the Nuremberg court is viewed positively, but the wrap-up of the Sweet case repeats Darrow's opinion that the Sweets' attackers ""were not responsible for their actions but were rather the victims of the terrible hatred inspired by race prejudice."" The circumstantial outlines are serviceable enough, but surely another slack overview of these landmark trials is redundant.

Pub Date: Jan. 29, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION