Roger Nash Baldwin and the American Civil Liberties Union - (Columbia Studies in Contemporary American History) by Robert Cottrell (Hardcover)

About the Book

Baldwin's thirty-year tenure as director of the ACLU marked the period when the modern understanding of the Bill of Rights came into being. Recapturing the accomplishments and contradictions of America's greatest civil libertarian--a staunch defender of Communist Russia who openly admired J. Edgar Hoover and Douglas MacArthur--this riveting biography is an eye-opening view of the development of the American left.

Book Synopsis

Roger Nash Baldwin's thirty-year tenure as director of the ACLU marked the period when the modern understanding of the Bill of Rights came into being. Spearheaded by Baldwin, volunteer attorneys of the caliber of Clarence Darrow, Arthur Garfield Hays, Osmond Frankel, and Edward Ennis transformed the constitutional landscape. Company police forces were dismantled. Antievolutionists were discredited (thanks to the Scopes Trial). Censorship of such works as James Joyce's Ulysses was halted. The Scottsboro Boys and Sacco and Vanzetti were defended. The right of free speech for communists and Ku Klux Klansmen alike was upheld, and the foundations were laid for an end to school segregation.

Robert Cottrell's magnificent book recaptures the accomplishments and contradictions of the complicated man at the center of these events. Driven, vain, frugal, and tempestuous, America's greatest civil libertarian was initially also a staunch defender of Communist Russia, deferred to the U.S. government over the internment of Japanese Americans, and openly admired J. Edgar Hoover and Douglas MacArthur. His personal relationships were equally complex. Spanning a hundred years from the late 1800s through Baldwin's death in 1981, this riveting biography is an eye-opening view of the development of the American left.

Review Quotes

A rich, textured portrait highlighting Baldwin's numerous contradictions.... Highly recommended at all levels.--R. J. Goldstein "Choice"

A tale worth telling. Cottrell tells it very well.--Michael R. Belknap "Journal of American HIstory"

Cottrell fills the pages with Baldwin's mentors, allies and foe... providing a detailed and comprehensive understanding of 80 years of progressive activity.-- "Publishers Weekly"

About the Author

Robert Cottrell is professor of history and American studies at California State University, Chico. He has written numerous books and articles on American liberalism, reform, and radicalism in the twentieth century, including Izzy: A Biography of I. F. Stone.