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Showdown

Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America

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Showdown

Written by: Wil Haygood
Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
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About this listen

Thurgood Marshall brought down the separate-but-equal doctrine, integrated schools, and not only fought for human rights and human dignity but also made them impossible to deny in the courts and in the streets. In this stunning new biography, award-winning author Wil Haygood surpasses the emotional impact of his inspiring best seller The Butler to detail the life and career of one of the most transformative legal minds of the past 100 years.

Using the framework of the dramatic, contentious five-day Senate hearing to confirm Marshall as the first African-American Supreme Court justice, Haygood creates a provocative and moving look at Marshall's life as well as the politicians, lawyers, activists, and others who shaped - or desperately tried to stop - the civil rights movement of the 20th century: President Lyndon Johnson; Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., whose scandals almost cost Marshall the Supreme Court judgeship; Harry and Harriette Moore, the NAACP workers killed by the KKK; Justice J. Waties Waring, a racist lawyer from South Carolina, who, after being appointed to the federal court, became such a champion of civil rights that he was forced to flee the South; John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy; Senator Strom Thurmond, the renowned racist from South Carolina, who had a Black mistress and child; North Carolina senator Sam Ervin, who tried to use his Constitutional expertise to block Marshall's appointment; Senator James Eastland of Mississippi, the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who stated that segregation was "the law of nature, the law of God"; Arkansas senator John McClellan, who, as a boy, after Teddy Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House, wrote a prize-winning school essay proclaiming that Roosevelt had destroyed the integrity of the presidency; and so many others.

This galvanizing book makes clear that it is impossible to overestimate Thurgood Marshall's lasting influence on the racial politics of our nation.

©2015 Wil Haygood (P)2015 Random House Audio
Biographies & Memoirs Professionals & Academics Social Sciences United States Mississippi Civil Rights Social movement Equality Roosevelt Family South Carolina North Carolina
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What the critics say

"Wil Haygood has brought us an elegant, fascinating and important tale, rendered with relentless originality and the author's superb gift of portraiture. Showdown reveals the essence of the great Thurgood Marshall, as well as the historical forces and often surprising backstage mechanics that enabled him to become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice." (Michael Beschloss)

"[A]ccessible...moving...well-rounded. This is the definitive account of the life of a major American hero who deserves wider recognition." (Publishers Weekly)

"Dominic Hoffman offers an effective and engaging narration." (AudioFile)

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