From Publishers Weekly
Thurgood Marshall's long and influential life of challenging racism and championing affirmative action makes him prime biography material today. Ball, a political science professor at the University of Vermont and author of 16 previous books on the federal judiciary, expertly interweaves Marshall's life with the history of civil rights in America. From the rise of the NAACP?which coincided roughly with Marshall's 1908 birth in segregated Baltimore?to Brown v. The Board of Education, a case that Marshall argued before the Supreme Court in 1953, we see Marshall as a towering figure, an indefatigable adversary of the ruthless and endemic racial discrimination that surrounded him much of his life. As Ball's focus is on legal history, other civil rights leaders, such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., are barely mentioned. In contrast to Juan Williams in his recent biography, Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary (Times Books), Ball skims over Marshall's personal life, either downplaying or omitting details of his heavy drinking, sexual misconduct, poor health, virulent anticommunism and general cantankerousness. Instead, Ball devotes nearly 200 absorbing pages to Marshall's Supreme Court tenure and casework, presenting detailed?but very clear?analyses of pivotal cases in which Marshall was involved, as a NAACP lawyer, as a U.S. Solicitor General and as the first black judge appointed to the Supreme Court. Those cases are Marshall's legacy, and Ball's fine biography places his subject's legal accomplishments squarely in the context of American history. Photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
On October 1, 1991, Thurgood Marshall retired from the Supreme Court, the last remaining liberal after Justice William Brennan stepped down in 1990. Marshall had sat on that distinguished bench for 24 years. Coming on the heels of Juan Williams's recent biography (Thurgood Marshall, LJ 9/1/98), this study of the late Supreme Court justice is basically a rehash. The books are similar in detail, tracing the rise of Jim Crow, the history of the NAACP, etc., and focusing on public education and affirmative action battles, the Civil Rights movement and its key players, and Marshall's years as a jurist. One difference is that while Williams shows more of the personal side of the man, Ball (Hugo L. Black, LJ 6/1/96) concentrates on the legal aspects of Marshall's life. With the massive amount of attention given to the judicial system, this is primarily for lawyers and judges. Not a necessary purchase.?Ann Burns, "Library Journal"Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
The second major Marshall biography in recent months (after Juan Williams's Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary) stresses the late civil rights giant and Supreme Court justice's legal career more than his larger-than-life personality. Ball is no stranger to high-bench biography, having written 17 books on the federal judiciary, including Of Power and Right: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, and America's Constitutional Revolution (with Phillip J. Cooper, 1991). Ball portrays Marshall's life as "the story of the persistence of racism in America" and examines in crushing detail his courtroom accomplishments. It's ironic that Marshall, who as chief litigator for the NAACP successfully argued the landmark desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education before the Supreme Court, spent most of his time as a justice dissenting against a conservative majority bent on reversing the gains he'd achieved--often at considerable personal risk--as a lawyer. Marshall "came to the Court too late," the last liberal appointed before a tide of Nixon appointees (led by nemesis William Rehnquist) tipped the balance of power rightward. Marginalized and frustrated, Marshall grew increasingly angered by his colleagues' rulings. These reflected, at their most benign, an ignorance of the plight of ordinary "Joe Doakeses" (whose courageousness Marshall credited for his courtroom success as "Mr. Civil Rights") and, at their most malignant, a narrow-minded racism and hostility toward individual rights. Ball's focus on the small legal print provides eye-opening insights into the machinations of the Court, where squabbling among justices became more common as the Rehnquist court practiced what Marshall called "power, not reason." However, Ball's approach often shortchanges Marshall the man, and the preoccupation with legal history, while compelling to constitutional scholars, will lose many general readers. Better as "further reading" than as an accessible general introduction, Ball's biography nevertheless stands as an extension of Marshall's own dissents--a clarion call for conscience in future Supreme Court deliberations. (16 pages b&w photos) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Thurgood Marshall's extraordinary contribution to civil rights and overcoming racism is more topical than ever, as the national debate on race and the overturning of affirmative action policies make headlines nationwide. Howard Ball, author of eighteen books on the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary, has done copious research for this incisive biography to present an authoritative portrait of Marshall the jurist. Using race as the defining theme, Ball spotlights Marshall's genius in working within the legal system to further his lifelong commitment to racial equality. With the help of numerous, previously unpublished sources, Ball presents a lucid account of Marshall's illustrious career and his historic impact on American civil rights.

FROM THE CRITICS

Lucas E. Morel - Books & Culture: A Christian Review

...[R]eminds us how much we owe to Marshall's Hurculean labors as NAACP lead counsel, a suitable tribute to the man once known as "Mr. Civil Rights."

Library Journal

These two books about a giant in U.S. legal and political history mirror each other in myriad ways, detailing the history of the NAACP, the rise of Jim Crow, lynchings, etc. Ball's (political science, Univ. of Vermont) study contains more legal lingo, which makes for a less interesting read, while Williams's portrait is more revealing of the private side of the justice.

Lucas E. Morel - Books & Culture: A Christian Review

...[R]eminds us how much we owe to Marshall's Hurculean labors as NAACP lead counsel, a suitable tribute to the man once known as "Mr. Civil Rights."

Kirkus Reviews

The second major Marshall biography in recent months (after Juan Williamsns Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary, p. 1105) stresses the late civil rights giant and Supreme Court justice's legal career more than his larger-than-life personality. Ball is no stranger to high-bench biography, having written 17 books on the federal judiciary, including Of Power and Right: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, and America's Constitutional Revolution ( with Phillip J. Cooper, 1991). Ball portrays Marshall's life as "the story of the persistence of racismn in America and examines in crushing detail his courtroom accomplishments. It's ironic that Marshall, who as chief litigator for the NAACP successfully argued the landmark desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education before the Supreme Court, spent most of his time as a justice dissenting against a conservative majority bent on reversing the gains he'd achievednoften at considerable personal risknas a lawyer. Marshall "came to the Court too late," the last liberal appointed before a tide of Nixon appointees (led by nemesis William Rehnquist) tipped the balance of power rightward. Marginalized and frustrated, Marshall grew increasingly angered by his colleaguesn rulings. These reflected, at their most benign, an ignorance of the plight of ordinary "Joe Doakeses" (whose courageousness Marshall credited for his courtroom success as "Mr. Civil Rights") and, at their most malignant, a narrow-minded racism and hostility toward individual rights. Ball's focus on the small legal print provides eye-opening insights into the machinations of the Court, where squabbling among justices became more common as the Rehnquist court practiced whatMarshall called "power, not reason." However, Ballns approach often shortchanges Marshall the man, and the preoccupation with legal history, while compelling to constitutional scholars, will lose many general readers. Better as "further reading" than as an accessible general introduction, Ball's biography nevertheless stands as an extension of Marshall's own dissentsna clarion call for conscience in future Supreme Court deliberations. (16 pages b&w photos)