Drawing on untapped archives and full of fresh revelations, here is the definitive biography of America's legendary defence attorney and progressive hero.
John A. Farrell is the author of Clarence Darrow- Attorney for the Damned, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography, and Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century, which was a New York Times Notable Book and a Washington Post Rave of the Year. As a longtime journalist at The Boston Globe, he worked as White House correspondent, Washington editor, and investigative reporter on the vaunted Spotlight team. His award-winning portrait of Nixon was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography, and earned him the title of American Historian Laureate from the New York Historical Society.
‘In mining a rich vein of newly uncovered sources, he [Farrell] has
created what is arguably Darrow's definitive portrait.’
*Adelaide Advertiser*
‘Farrell offers excerpts from Darrow’s magnificent courtroom
arguments as well as delicious details of his personal life (he was
a hearty participant in the era’s free love movement). [He] gleans
from previously undisclosed material to offer a completely engaging
portrait of a flawed man of noble ideals.’
*Booklist (starred review)*
‘Attorney for the Damned is a must read for anyone interested in
the art of lawyering.’
*Courier Mail*
‘John Farrell’s Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned is a
riveting historical drama filled with strange twists and turns.
Every page is a triumph of scholarship. A marvelous biography!’
*Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University and
author of The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the
Crusade for America*
‘A comprehensive biography of the storied defense attorney. Making
elaborate use of transcripts, observers’ accounts, correspondence
and newspaper reports, Farrell chronicles Darrow’s most celebrated
trials in detail … These cases — including two in which Darrow,
almost surely guilty, was himself tried for jury tampering —
dominate the narrative, but Farrell neatly places them within the
larger context of this complicated man’s crowded life and practice
… Farrell unflinchingly addresses [Darrow’s] shortcomings, even as
he underscores the genuine brilliance of a still-unmatched advocate
for underdogs everywhere.’
*Kirkus (starred review)*
100 Most Notable Books 2011
*New York Times*
‘John A. Farrell, in Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned, goes
farther into the archives and deeper into Darrow’s crags.’
*New Yorker*
‘The portrait that emerges is of a complex idealist, a big-picture
life lived out on the stage of the courtroom’ PICK OF THE WEEK
*Saturday Age*
‘His [Darrow’s] life story was epic in its sweep and influence … It
is stirringly retold in Farrell's timely, balanced and important
book.’
*Weekend Australian*
‘This book is a joy and revelation. It is at once a rollicking tour
through the mind of a legal genius and a spellbinding account of
some of the most famous cases in American history. The chapter on
Leopold and Loeb alone is worth waiting in line to get a seat in
Jack Farrell’s courtroom.’
*David Maraniss, author of When Pride Still Mattered and
They Marched into Sunlight*
‘People want heroes. But history demands truth. This gritty
biography demystifies a deeply flawed legal hero, who ‘almost
assuredly’ bribed jurors and witnesses in order to level the
playing field against ‘the rich and powerful.’ Darrow was a giant
of his corrupt times. His biography is a must read for all
Americans who care about both the means and ends of justice!’
*Alan M. Dershowitz, author of The Trials of Zion*
‘It is almost impossible to conceive how so much living could have
come in just one life, and Jack Farrell’s masterful new biography
makes Clarence Darrow come alive. This is a wonderful, at times
heart-pounding story, which is told with precision, sympathy, and
insight.’
*Ken Burns*
‘Clarence Darrow confounded titles: he was a freethinker, hedonist,
anarchist, populist, infidel, cynic and master storyteller who
became our greatest lawyer and a folk hero. Farrell’s masterful,
sweeping new biography not only does justice to all his roles but
joyously satisfies even a Darrow addict like me.’
*Roy Black, Esq., criminal defense attorney*
‘His name remains a legend. And in this new book, John Farrell
explains why, weaving a tale as compelling and clever as one of
Darrow’s bewitching courtroom speeches for the defense.’
*The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG, Justice of the High Court of
Australia (1996–2009)*
‘This new biography is a balanced account of a complex man, written
with a great gift of story-telling. It sets Darrow’s battles in
their rich historical setting, and brings him vividly to life. I
hope that it helps keep alive the memory of a lawyer who, at his
best, was a model for all lawyers to emulate.’
*Julian Burnside QC*
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