This spring Chief Justice John Roberts spoke at my former home, the University of Alabama's law school. His talk (available at C-SPAN's website) received a lot of attention because he spoke about the confirmation process, as well as about the controversy around Obama's state of the union address. (Dan Filler blogged about it here). I was excited about the talk for other reasons. First, because he recommended a biography of John Marshall (at about minute 55). I'm still not sure if he meant G. Edward White's Marshall Court and Cultural Change, which is one of the finest works of legal history written in my lifetime, or Jean Smith's John Marshall: Definer of a Nation–a very good book, but for different reasons. Second, because Roberts said he'd gone to law school thinking he might become a legal historian! (at about minute 34)
Something else stuck in my mind, which is now more relevant than it was last spring when he said it. Roberts had a suggestion to the Senators for a question — "ask the nominee what the latest book she's read is." He continued, "What is her interest? What did she think? Something to get a better sense of how a nominee would approach a job." (at about minute 39) If a nominee answered that question honestly, it would tell a great deal about the nominee. But I wouldn't count on getting a candid answer to that question; the Senators would get a pre-fabricated answer.
Here's a great answer to that question: White's The American Judicial Tradition. How could anyone object to someone reading about what judges did. I'm guessing that Holmes' The Common Law wouldn't be as good an answer.
In the spirit of Roberts' question, I'll say that on my desk right now are White's Marshall Court and Cultural Change, actually; Stephanie McCurry's Confederate Reckoning (a book I want to talk about at some point), Bucky Schieffelin's Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers, which I wrote about last week, and — get this — The Preppy Handbook! I brought the latter home from my last trip to Philly. It's a riot and I'm going to blog about it sometime soon. BTW, pieces of it fit my favorite librarian exactly!
One quick observation: man, I know The Preppy Handbook was written as a joke — at least I thought it was a joke — but now that I've had a chance to observe true preppies up close, I have to say, this is darn good sociology. E. Digby Baltzell wasn't as perceptive as the author of that book. Oh, yes, and also sitting here are articles by John Archibald Campbell, about whom Mr. Chief Justice Roberts also spoke.
Al, I'm pretty sure he was talking about the Jean Edward Smith book, although if I recall correctly he got the name slightly wrong.
Roberts said Edward White, but I agree that he was probably talking about Jean Edward Smith's book, because Roberts mentioned a vignette about Marshall at Valley Forge. White doesn't talk about Marshall's time at Valley Forge.
But here's a fun game to play: what would be the best answers to a Senator's question — what book (or books) are on you reading!