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The Old Devil: Clarence Darrow: The World's Greatest Trial Lawyer
by Donald McRae (Author)
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Product Details
- Binding: Paperback
- ISBN-10: 1847370241
- ISBN-13: 9781847370242
- Number Of Pages: 352
- Publication Date: June 01, 2009
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
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Customer Reviews
Rating: 
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This is a fine story but disappointingly told.
It's about Clarence Darrow, probably best known now as the character played by Spencer Tracy in the film, "Inherit the Wind". Darrow represented John Scopes, a Tennessee teacher prosecuted for teaching evolution in apparent contravention of a new law.
The Scopes trial is one of three at the centre of this book. The others are his representation of two wealthy young men who killed a boy for fun and the defence of black men who killed a white man in self-defence after the most fearsome intimidation. These are terrific stories and to a point Mr Macrae tells them well, in a style more like a novel than a conventional biography.
But there are a couple of problems. He does give a lot of time to Darrow's relationship with Mary Field without ever showing that it was that important at the time of the trials. For example, the story is interrupted more than once by pages about the relationship between Mary and her 8 year old daughter and the only connection with the main story is that her daughter disliked Darrow.
Secondly the story that comes out of the book isn't the one that Macrae wants to tell. He talks about an old trial of Darrow for bribing a jury and how Darrow survived the case with Mary's help. But he skirts around the very obvious conclusion that Darrow was guilty and let a lot of people down.
On the cases themselves, there is a lot about how he constructed a psychological case for the wealthy young thrill killers. It comes as a let down then to find that the judge dismissed all that element of the defence and spared the killers only on account of their youth. Similarly in the Scopes trial he won but 80 years on many Americans still don't accept evolution. Some people argue that the melodrama of the Scopes trial set back the cause of science in America. The novelistic style means that you get a good story but little analysis of its wider significance.
Rating: 
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Unlike the two previous reviewers, I enjoyed this book immensely. The coverage of the three cases themselves were riveting and the 'novelesque' approach of the author added some colour to what could be a quite dull read if it had followed traditional biographical styles.
Such was the interest that this book developed in Clarence Darrow, I immediately read 'Honor Killing' - not Clarence Darrow's finest hour, but a great read just the same.
Well done Donald McRae!
Rating: 
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This book revolves around the three last big cases Darrow was involved in & when it gets to them, finally, its rather good. But to get there you have to wade through Mills & Boon mush such as "She and Darrow remained silent as the elevator struggled upward. But, somewhere between the third and fifth floors, thier eyes met in a gaze that needed no words." The book has some good points but the style of writing is not to my realistic taste. Buy this for an intelligent maiden Aunt who remembers the great Spencer Tracey film.
Rating: 
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This is one of the worst biographies that it has ever been my misfortune to read. Instead of being an incisive insight into a giant among lawyers the author clearly preferred to indulge his own prurient interest into what were a couple of fairly pedestrian relationships [wife/mistress]which added absolutely nothing to our existing knowledge of the man / lawyer. This author shold think most carefully before making any decision to give up the day job.
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