Law Without Values : The Life, Work, And Legacy Of Justice Holmes

In recent decades, Oliver Wendell Holmes has been praised as "the only great American legal thinker" and "the most illustrious figure in the history of American law." But in Albert Alschuler's critique of both Justice Holmes and contemporary legal scholarship, a darker portrait is painted—that of a man who, among other things, espoused Social Darwinism, favored eugenics, and, as he himself acknowledged, came "devilish near to believing that might makes right."

Library Journal

Alschuler (law, Univ. of Chicago Law Sch.) offers both a biography of Oliver Wendell Holmes and an unorthodox view of his professional and legal work, examining his worldview and ethical skepticism toward objective concepts of the law as right and wrong (i.e., mechanistic jurisprudence). Holmes was a central figure in 19th- and 20th-century American law, who, the author feels, had a power-focused legal philosophy that was rooted in concepts of Social Darwinism. Alschuler further explores how pre-Holmes visions of American law differ from post-Holmes interpretations. Legal scholars and historians will find this work thoroughly researched and a challenge to standard legal analyses of trends in post-Civil War America. For contrast, see Sheldon Novick's Honorable Justice: The Life of Oliver Wendell Holmes (LJ 9/1/89). This opinionated analysis of Holmes is highly recommended for academic libraries.--Steven Puro, St. Louis Univ. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.