Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases

by Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman, Various Authors Narrated by Full Cast

Overview

To mark its 100-year anniversary, the American Civil Liberties Union partners with award-winning authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman to bring together many of our greatest living writers, each contributing an original piece inspired by a historic ACLU case.

On January 19, 1920, a small group of idealists and visionaries, including Helen Keller, Jane Addams, Roger Baldwin, and Crystal Eastman, founded the American Civil Liberties Union. A century after its creation, the ACLU remains the nation's premier defender of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

In collaboration with the ACLU, authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman have curated an anthology of essays about landmark cases in the organization's 100-year history. Fight of the Century takes you inside the trials and the stories that have shaped modern life. Some of the most prominent cases that the ACLU has been involved in—Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, Miranda v. Arizona—need little introduction. Others you may never even have heard of, yet their outcomes quietly defined the world we live in now. Familiar or little-known, each case springs to vivid life in the hands of the acclaimed writers who dive into the history, narrate their personal experiences, and debate the questions at the heart of each issue.

Hector Tobar introduces us to Ernesto Miranda, the felon whose wrongful conviction inspired the now-iconic Miranda rights—which the police would later read to the man suspected of killing him. Yaa Gyasi confronts the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, in which the ACLU submitted a friend-of-the-court brief questioning why a nation that has sent men to the moon still has public schools so unequal that they may as well be on different planets. True to the ACLU's spirit of principled dissent, Scott Turow offers a blistering critique of the ACLU's stance on campaign finance.

These powerful stories, along with essays from Neil Gaiman, Meg Wolitzer, Salman Rushdie, Ann Patchett, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Louise Erdrich, George Saunders, and many more, remind us that the issues the ACLU has engaged over the past one hundred years remain as vital as ever today, and that we can never take our liberties for granted.

Chabon and Waldman are donating their advance to the ACLU and the contributors are forgoing payment.

Editorial Reviews

APRIL 2020 - AudioFile

This collection of essays highlights major case law argued by the American Civil Liberties Union over the last century. Works by authors such as Viet Thanh Nguyen, Neil Gaiman, George Saunders, and more are narrated by performers such as Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Stewart, and Lucy Liu. Beyond providing a fascinating exploration of the work accomplished by the ACLU, the audiobook also presents listeners with a rich history of case law that makes aspects of the past and present meaningful and personal. Issues such as the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII gain new perspective in relation to ICE raids and child detention centers. On the whole, the narrators prove to be well suited to the essays and quite often have personal ties to their topics. L.E. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

"Compelling . . . [A] powerful, inspiring collection." —The Christian Science Monitor

"Forceful, beautifully written and often humorous . . . The essays in Fight of the Century may be brief, but each packs a mighty wallop. . . . This is a book to read, share and keep." —Associated Press

"Full of struggle, emotion, fear, resilience, hope, and triumph." —Los Angeles Review of Books

“Moving . . . Entertaining . . . It’s enlightening to watch some of our most masterly literary portraitists restore the warts and wardrobes, the motivations and machinations to those whose stories have been stripped down to surnames or pseudonyms.”
—Monica Youn, New York Times Book Review

"Vigorous, informative, and well-organized, this outstanding collection befits the ACLU’s substantial impact on American law and society."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A stunning collection of original and topical essays . . . [that] vividly brings consequential court cases to life."
—Booklist (starred review)

"A finely edited almanac of lively, contextually grounded stories that read like the greatest hits of freedom . . . Provides insights that are both riveting and refreshingly diverse."
—Kirkus Reviews

Library Journal

★ 02/01/2020

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been at the forefront of cases related to civil rights in the United States for more than a century. Marking the organization's centennial, this collection edited by Chabon (The Yiddish Policeman's Union) and Waldman (Love and Treasure) examines not just the history, but also the social context and ongoing impact of the ACLU's landmark rulings. Highlights include Chabon's analysis of the 1933 case United States v. One Book Called Ulysses, describing how the James Joyce novel was labeled obscene and its import forbidden under the Tariff Act of 1930. Author Marlon James explores how racism and homophobia intersect in Lawrence v. Texas, the case that found discriminatory laws regulating homosexual sex unconstitutional. Poet Morgan Parker's response to Bob Jones University v. United States recounts a sermon by the evangelical university's founder supporting segregation, and considers the use of biblical distortion to uphold oppression. VERDICT At a time in which civil rights are under threat worldwide, this collection is a reminder that basic human rights and dignity tend to get crushed under populism. An essential, necessary look at a century of progress, with a eye to the ever-present threat of losing those hard-won rights.—Bart Everts, Rutgers Univ.-Camden Lib., NJ.

APRIL 2020 - AudioFile

This collection of essays highlights major case law argued by the American Civil Liberties Union over the last century. Works by authors such as Viet Thanh Nguyen, Neil Gaiman, George Saunders, and more are narrated by performers such as Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Stewart, and Lucy Liu. Beyond providing a fascinating exploration of the work accomplished by the ACLU, the audiobook also presents listeners with a rich history of case law that makes aspects of the past and present meaningful and personal. Issues such as the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII gain new perspective in relation to ICE raids and child detention centers. On the whole, the narrators prove to be well suited to the essays and quite often have personal ties to their topics. L.E. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173969774
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	01/21/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged

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