Reviews
It is rare for historians of the left to give readers such an intimate sense of activism-not only for big battles but also the long, hard slogs; not only the triumphs of an engaged life but also its strains and sacrifices. Babson, Riddle, and Elsila have an extraordinary-and extraordinarily important-story to tell.", This is a riveting story of law at its best, serving the vulnerable, challenging the powerful, and demanding a commitment to our deepest ideals. Ernie Goodman devoted a dynamic career to holding law to its promises, and reforming law where it failed to reflect our best selves. He is a model for all who seek to change the world for the better.", The Color of Law spares no detail in its intimate portrayal of a real-life hero of the courtroom, and is a worthy addition to college and public library biography shelves.", There are few lawyers in America who have put everything on the line to advance the cause of civil rights, civil liberties, workers' rights, and peace; Ernie Goodman was one of them. He was the lawyer's lawyer always ready to defend the poor and downtrodden. The Color of Law is an engrossing account of one man's fearless endeavors to make the courts and the law serve equally and justly the rights of all citizens.", The authors of this compelling biography had access to a trove of Ernie Goodmans own writings and observations, and are able at nearly every turn to incorporate his own words and reflections into the narrative. . . . In telling the story of Ernie Goodman, co-authors Steve Babson, Dave Riddle, and David Elsila also give us a powerful narrative of the evolution of a progressive strain within American law in the 20th century., The Color of Law is a masterful chronicle of a lawyer's selfless engagement in the causes of social justice and racial equality. The reader cannot help but find parallels between those earlier eras of social tumult and our nation's current climate.", Imagine Clarence Darrow immersed in progressive movements for social change, and you might have some sense of the remarkable, indomitable Ernie Goodman. This wonderful, inspiring, and compelling book is not only his story, it's the chronicle of the most important struggles of the twentieth century-from the first auto worker sit-down strikes, to the Red Scare, the fight against Jim Crow, opposition to the Vietnam War, and the Attica prison rebellion. Ernie understood better than most lawyers that progressive social change comes from popular struggle and that a lawyer's job was to protect those in struggle. The Color of Law holds key lessons for today. Ernie was unbowed until his death at age ninety and so must we be.", Color of Law goes beyond Goodman's life and, instead, uses his life as a microcosm for a changing America during the 20th century. The book is an extensive examination into Detroit, the life of Goodman and the struggle for civil rights nationally. It is a long but very important read. It is one of many books researched in the Walter Reuther Library that tells readers how far we have come, and yet, how much farther we have to go.", The lessons in The Color of Law are many and valuable; the book is a virtual 'who's who' of Detroit's labor and civil rights communities across the twentieth century. Locally, nationally, and to some degree internationally the authors chronicle Goodman and his colleagues' resilience and their unrelenting efforts in the shifting legal and political climates from the 1930s through the 1970s, as they waged these battles from their law offices in Detroit.