Reviews for Dream makers, dream breakers

The average rating for Dream makers, dream breakers based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-06-24 00:00:00 Doug Knox This book is about the life of the civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall who was eventually appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Johnson. Thurgood Marshall spent a large part of his illustrious career working for the NAACP and was instrumental in ending many discriminatory segregation laws (Jim Crow) in the Southern U.S. states. The most significant was “Brown v Board of Education” which ended legal segregation in schools (despite this segregation by other means continues to exist in schools throughout the U.S.) As the title of the book suggests Thurgood Marshall was a “Dream Maker”. He fought legally to end all forms of segregation. In many ways he has succeeded – restaurants, transportation, and hotel accommodations are now all largely non-discriminatory. This book also provides a history of the United States from the 1940’s onwards. It gives us incisive comments on how the forces of right wing America have constantly fought back against the legal accomplishments on civil right’s and women’s rights. The Presidential eras of Ronald Reagan and the first George Bush packed the Supreme Court with conservatives. Their legislation for law and order filled American prisons. This book was published in 1993 and it is very prescient. It is scathing on George Wallace, Richard Nixon, and Clarence Thomas – and complimentary on Harry Truman and the Civil Rights legislation of Lyndon Johnson. This book is not just about Thurgood Marshall, but gives us the trajectory of U.S. legal and social history since the 1940’s – some progressive and some regressive. There are several searing passages on Thurgood Marshall’s experiences in the Deep South.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-06-05 00:00:00 Daniel Stafiej When I was a teen, listening to Martin Luther King, I ignorantly thought the civil rights movement was "just starting", though I WAS vaguely aware of the 1954 Brown Vs. Topeka school de-segregation case. Did I learn a lot from this book!! Thurgood Marshall, born in 1908 was an early and tireless member of the NAACP since its earliest days. I read with fascination of many cases in the 1930's and 1940's which set the stage for the continuance of the civil rights movement of the 1960's. I discovered the many important cases that Marshall won before the ladmark 1954 case. Representing the NAACP , he argued 32 cases before the Supreme Court--and won 29! Considering the complexity of most cases before the Supreme Court, that is an incredible record. Regardless of political beliiefs, Thurgood Marshall was an dynamic character and a skilled jurist caught up in the great legal battles of his time. The book is a well written mixture of interesting legal facts, and fascinating personal interviews and anecdotes with a very remarkable man. REcommended for those interested in either Thurgood Marshall or the early years of the Civil Rights movement. Highly recommended for those with any interest in the US legal system.