FIFTY-EIGHT LONELY MEN

The Supreme Court's 1954 school segregation decisions did not order immediate integration. The Court announced that the variety of local conditions made it unwise to formulate a single decree covering all school districts; instead, cases would be returned to district judges for the formulation of specific orders. The district judges could thus defeat desegregation by narrowly construing the Supreme Court's rulings. On the other hand, the judges could do much to speed integration by interpreting broadly the Court's mandates. This book is the story of how the men on the district courts and the United States courts of appeals have moved to force compliance with the school segregation. decisions. The personalities of these 58 southern federal judges, the external pressures exerted on them, and their judicial decisions, are covered in great detail. The author includes in his discussion a brilliant analysis of the steps taken by segregationists to defeat the integration rulings of these courts. Though not for the general reader, it is an important and readable study. Its background information on the problem areas of Nashville, Little Rock, and New Orleans commends this book to the alert layman as well as to the student of law and political science.