Category: Book Review

They arrived four days ago, but for 48 hours the reviewer was prevented by moral paralysis from opening the parcel. Yesterday in a resolute moment he ripped the string off it and found the five volumes to be Palestine at the Cross Roads, Scientific Dairy Farming, A Short History of European Democracy (this one 680 pages and weighs four pounds), Tribal Customs in Portuguese East Africa, and a novel, It’s Nicer Lying Down, probably included by mistake. His review — 800 words, say — has got to be ‘in’ by midday tomorrow.

George Orwell, Confessions of a Book Reviewer

January 2023 rolled in with the zero-sum driven Russo-Ukrainian war raging, which, by any informed observer’s account, has evolved into a war of attrition. With neither Russia nor Ukraine contemplating a negotiated settlement, the killings and destruction and atrocities and suffering will run the ever-predictable course. Will either side give in? Doubtful – at least not as long as Russia has the means to wage war and Ukraine has the means to repel and respond in kind (save for an unpardonable but not improbable tactical nuclear strike by Russia).

Russia, or shall I say Putin, is convinced of the righteousness of initiating the war – not as the aggressor but because of the existential threat posed to Russia by Ukraine. Whether we agree or disagree with Putin’s perceptions – which, indubitably, accounts for the ruthlessness with which he is prosecuting his euphemistically branded limited military intervention – his perception is his reality. Inversely, Ukraine’s reality is that Russia is waging an un-provoked and unjustifiable war, an un-righteous act of aggression which it perceives as an existential threat to Ukraine’s existence – of its sovereignty, territorial integrity, heritage, and culture. Continue reading “Book Review Series: Musings and meanderings from my 2023 reading explorations – Part 1”

Kennedy’s Avenger – Assassination, Conspiracy, and the Forgotten Trial of Jack Ruby, Dan Abrams & David Fisher, Hanover Square Press, 2022, 400 pages, $17.99

May I thank this jury for a verdict that is a victory for bigotry.…

I want to assure you we will appeal this to a court where there is justice and impartiality. This is one of the most shocking things I’ve seen in my lifetime. We have a little bit of Russia…. The festering sore that is now the most shocking place in the nation. If the venomous infection spreads throughout the country, God save us all!!!…. I hope the people of Dallas are proud of this jury … this is a kangaroo court, a railroad court and everybody knew it…. We are back a thousand years. The jury has made this city a shame forever… You talk of the shame of Dallas; now you see it in full glory.

I can’t shake hands with you, judge. You’ve got blood on your hands.

Melvin Belli, on hearing the verdict in The State of Texas v. Jacob Rubenstein, (p. 349)

At 8:22 p.m., after hearing 66 witnesses over a 10-day period, including complex testimony from a dozen or so medical and mental health experts, the jury begin hearing closing arguments. Melvin Belli, lead defense lawyer for Jacob Rubenstein alias Jack Ruby, began his closing argument at midnight. Minutes after 1:00 am Judge Joseph Brantley Brown, Sr., gave final instructions. The jury of eight men and four women, selected over 14 intense days of voir dire and a fair amount of crystal gazing, deliberated for two hours and nineteen minutes later that morning.

In the jury room, with little discussion or debate, the jurors had agreed unanimously that Jack Ruby was guilty of murder. They agreed unanimously he was sane when he shot Lee Harvey Oswald. They agreed unanimously that he was sane at the present time. They agreed unanimously that he had committed murder with malice. When they began deliberating the sentence, however, the initial vote was nine to three for the death penalty. (p. 351)

Death it was.

Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald who shot US President John F. Kennedy.

As detectives escort a handcuffed Oswald through the basement of the Dallas Municipal Court Building, dozens of journalists, anxiously waiting to get a glimpse of Oswald, shout questions. Ruby, a Dallas striptease nightclub owner, is in the scrum. With neither finesse nor concealment, Ruby pulls out his gun and fires, letting Oswald have it in the gut.

The shooting is captured in film, still photos, and national television. Next to the shooting of President Kennedy two days earlier on 22 November 1963 (also captured on national television), this is the most celebrated news event in Dallas, a.k.a. Big D. Those who do not witness it live on television later see it again and again and again on the news.

Conspiracies to this day run amok. Was Ruby Oswald’s collaborator? Was he a pinko commie (communist) like Oswald? Did Ruby kill Oswald to silence him? Was Ruby part of or connected to the mafia underworld that might have been behind President Kennedy’s assassination?

The actus reas was never seriously in dispute. Ruby’s means rea was. Did he act with malice? If yes, he faced death. If not, he faced a maximum of five years in prison. Death is different. Good, qualified, experienced defense lawyers tend to play it safe when imposing the death penalty is in the jury’s (or judge’s) hands. With suicide, accident, natural causes, and self-defense not available as defenses, Ruby had two viable defenses: acting without malice – killing Oswald in a moment of insanity or passion (acting in the heat of passion), and insanity – not appreciating the difference between right and wrong when he shot Oswald, not being capable of understanding the consequences of his actions. The former a partial defense, the latter a complete (affirmative) defense. Continue reading “Book Review: Kennedy’s Avenger – Assassination, Conspiracy, and the Forgotten Trial of Jack Ruby,”

Raylan, Elmore Leonard, William Morrow, 2012, 228 pages, $15.53

Desert Star, Michael Connelly, Little-Brown, 2022, 395 pages, $10.99

The Boys from Biloxi, John Grisham, Penguin Random House, 2022, 464 pages, $18.00

Golden Age Bibliomysteries, Otto Penzler, editor, Penzler Publishers, 2023, 426 pages, $17.95

Being at a beach without a good crime novel is like showing up to a party in no mood for partying.

Whether pulp fiction, short crime stories, or who-done-it mysteries, nothing better vacates the mind while on vacation from the drudgery, grind and toll of plowing through disclosure material, expert reports, witness statements, or the ever so très fashionable open-source material with all its foundational challenges.

Occasionally (or not so occasionally) we indulge in the guilty pleasure of reading a fast-paced page-turner during our busy schedules when we should be working or getting a proper rest before a busy day ahead. This pleasurable diversionary frolic is frequently followed with ex post facto lament, much like that experienced after decadently enjoying a nutrition-less, calorie-dense, artery-clogging, fast-food favorite. Not so when we leave for the beaches or the mountains or wherever you escape to when court is in recess or when vacation leave arrives with all the promises of rest, relaxation, and revelry. Continue reading “Book Review: Raylan, Desert Star, The Boys From Biloxi, and Golden Age Bibliomysteries”

Martial Arts – The Lessons, Tomislav S. Perić, Gregson & Lestrade, 2021, 222 pages, $14.95

Taking action, I believe, is the most significant and common stumbling block we all confront. For most of us, inertia reigns supreme and, in fairness, having a whimsical dream or desire doesn’t really require action. It’s when a thought or idea passes beyond the daydreaming phase that we need to give it serious consideration. Martial Arts – The Lessons, pp. 209-210

In these dog days of summer, and while in the back of our mind the end of our vacation is rapidly approaching, I thought I would wait for the slew of reviews that I have in the pipeline and steer you to some lighter reading. The selection is motley. Most are fast-paced novels with trial advocacy or ethics tips worth pondering over.  But if you are like me and sense the end of the summer as the time to give some serious consideration as to how or what the remainder of the year should yield, let me start with an amuse-bouche review of a nonfiction gem: Martial Arts – The Lessons,  by Tomislav S. Perić. Continue reading “BOOK REVIEW: Martial Arts – The Lessons”

The Parthenon Marbles and International Law, Catherine Titi, Springer, 2023, 311 pages, €171.19

One may perhaps have some reason for amassing gold and silver; in fact, it would be impossible to attain universal dominion without appropriating these resources from other peoples, in order to weaken them. In the case of every other form of wealth, however, it is more glorious to leave it where it was, together with the envy which it inspired, and to base our country’s glory, not on the abundance and beauty of its paintings and statutes, but on its sober customs and noble sentiments. Moreover, I hope that the future conquers will learn from these thought not to plunder the cities subjugated by them, and not to make the misfortunes of other peoples the adornment of their own country.

Polybius of Athens (writing before 146 BCE), as quoted in ICJ Judge Charles de Visscher, International Protection of Works of Art and Historic Monuments, 823 (1949).

It would, I think, now be universally accepted, certainly by the People of Ireland, and by the people of most modern States, that one of the most important national assets belonging to the people is their heritage and knowledge of its true origins and the buildings and objects which constitute keys to their ancient history.

Supreme Court of Ireland, Chief Justice Finlay, Webb v. Ireland, 1988, I.R. 353.

The fate of the Parthenon marbles in the “Elgin Collection” and the merits of their return have been debated ever since Elgin’s agents excised them from the Parthenon on the Acropolis at Athens. Such is the nature of the discussion about the return of cultural property that numerous studies on the topic start with a question purportedly about ownership. Who owns history? Who owns antiquity? Who owns the past? In reality. The questions are aspirational. What they really mean is: who should own antiquity? Or who should own the past? While the questions about ownership and return are legal, the answer to them have been built around a debate.

The Parthenon Marbles and International Law, p. 21.

During a recent visit to London, the proprietorship of the Parthenon Marbles came up in a conversation. I argued that the marbles – which the Brits kept referring to as the “Elgin marbles” – must be returned to Greece. The Brits argued that the marbles were bought by Britain from Elgin, and therefore must remain in the British Museum. Predictably, my interlocutors, who, indecently, were highly educated, learned, if you will, were either misinformed or uninformed of some of some critical facts. In any event, it did not seem to matter much since as one of them put it, Greece would lose on legal grounds because of undue delay, estoppel, implied waiver, or laches in asserting ownership and making a legal claim for redress. Another canard among many peddled over the years, which, as my good friend Michael Vickery, the eminent historian would put it, is part of the Standard Total View (STV): repeating and re-repeating what has been heard as unquestionable truths without questioning the original source. Since 1836, Greece in one form or another has repeatedly requested and demanded the return of the marbles, only to be rebuffed by Britain. Simply because Greece never brought a lawsuit against Britain but has tried repeatedly and uncompromisingly to resolve the matter diplomatically does not mean that Greece has abandoned its claim or has unduly delayed its claim.  Greece had partially gained its independent around 1828. While still in the midst of liberating the rest of modern-day Greece, it nonetheless acted with significant alacrity in requesting the return of the marbles from a then-empire (Britain) that it depended on in gaining its full independence. Continue reading “Book Review: The Parthenon Marbles and International Law, by Prof. Catherine Titi”