No comments about Super Chief: Earl Warren and His Supreme Court, A Judicial Biography.

No comments about The Lives And Times Of The Chief Justices Of The Supreme Court Of The United States: William Cushing, Oliver Ellsworth, John Marshall V2.

4 comments about Isolated Incidents: Reflections of a Correctional Officer.

1. I found this book intriging, informative, and very insightful. This book gives a shocking, truthful look at one of the nations Correctional Centers, and how corrupt the system can be. This is a must read!



2. Book is poorly written with spelling and grammatical errors all over the place. This is a very trite and cliche account of what it's like to work in the corrections field. Skip it.



3. Author Kevin L. Thomas chronicles his eight-year tenured service as a Corrections Officer at STATEVILLE, Illinois' infamous maximum security prison located 35 miles south west of Chicago. Difficult to read for its subject matter (the setting is bleak, stupidly bleak, and filled with dispicable people) and for Thomas' limited literay skills, "Isolated Incidents," is, nevertheless, jam packed with insights into the daily activities of gangs, chiefs, drug dealers, inept administrators, corrupt staff members and the author's own personal devils. How Thomas masters the wretched job and conquores the galleries as a CO is a clinic for anyone who finds himself in any high-powered occupation. Respected and feared by the inmates and staff, alike, Thomas became the invincible super-CO. He was brought to his knees, however, by his own hubris, and, in the last years of his career, went mad. It's amazing that he could pick up a pen to write about his experience, at all. Good luck, dear reader. Good luck.



4. What better perspective than an insider? A gritty first hand account. Could use a professional edit, but if you can get by the grammatical errors, you'll appreciate the straightforward honesty and get a rare first hand glimpse into the real life despair of a correctional institution. Nothing trite nor cliche' about that.

No comments about Partial Verdicts: Essays on Law and Life.

No comments about On the Edge of Greatness: The Diaries of John Humphrey, First Director of the United Nations Division of Human Rights, volume 4, 1958-1966.

No comments about Chief Justice W.R. Jackett: By the Law of the Land (Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History).

5 comments about Nineteen Seventy-Five: A Year in the Life of a College Sophomore : Taking it Apart (Part 1).

1. THis is a fantastic voyage back to the sex, drugs and rock and roll '70's experience on a small college campus. Mr. Small has nailed the experience, and I felt transported back to that time by the book. If you've forgotten what it was like, or if you're just curious, I strongly recommend this book.



2. This book is a great read. The characters really come to life . I felt like they were my friends. Anyone who came of age in the seventies can truly relate to the situations the main character encounters in those strange times. The book made me want to relive those days again. I can't wait for Mr. Smalls next novel.



3. After reading Nineteen-Seventy-four I could't wait to read the next book. Who would have thought it could have even been better. I felt even more connected to the main character in the second book and found myself hoping he'd get it together. Please keep on writing Mr. Small.



4. Having gone to a small midwestern college during the same period I found this book all too familar. For me, the 70's were an interesting time of both exploration and rebellion. I thought this novel explored both the pain and the joy of the times bringing back memories and feelings I had not visited in many years. I would reccommend this book to anyone but the most right wing. I loved it.



5. In a literary era of tales of survival under physical extremes, 1975 is a Dickensian tale of psychic survival. Unlike Dickens however, Small's account is realistic, and some may find this hard to face. Ask yourself, what would have happened if I had been raised by people who were unable to love me but merely treated me as boarder, and who treated my accomplishments as threats or insults to their own biological offspring, who tried to drag me down to mollify their own egos? Would I become a well-adjusted young man respectful of authority and without a trace of bitterness like David Copperfield, or would I laugh at social convention, take drugs, and learn to make authority cringe?
   
   On a different level, this story will appeal primarily to all those who harbor contempt for authority; those who lived in nonconformist frat houses in the 70s; anyone who has hitchhiked very much around America; those who attended "DeForrest" or similar small colleges and are familiar with the sociopolitics; and those familiar with the cultural desert of small town Indiana and the wacky things that intelligent people do there to preserve their sanity.
   
   From a nostalgic viewpoint, it's an excuse to remember what it was like to be alive then, to walk down the halls of your old frat house or dorm and revisit the strange assortment of characters you knew there, remember what it was like to get high for the first time and how good all the music sounded, and the awkwardness and then euphoria of your first sexual fumblings. You know, the fun parts of growing up.
   
   On the down side, while the author's savant-like recall of infinitesimal detail is amazing, it sometimes detracts from the flow of the narrative. Nevertheless, the story will leave you with unforgettable images, some hilarious (that second floor toilet), others disturbing (the fight on the roof, goodbye Eva). I look forward to the next installment.

No comments about Thomas Spry: Lawyer and Physician.

No comments about John Peter Zenger: His Press, His Trial And a Bibliography of Zenger Imprints.

No comments about The Judge's Quest.