Publishers Weekly
★ 04/19/2021
Biographer Canellos (Last Lion) intertwines in this original and eye-opening biography the lives of Supreme Court justice John Marshall Harlan and his rumored half-brother, Robert Harlan, who was born a slave. Appointed to the court by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877 “as a kind of human olive branch to the South,” Kentucky-born Harlan was the lone dissenting voice in the Civil Rights Cases of 1883 and Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, decisions that established the legal precedent for enforcing racial discrimination and segregation. Canellos contends that Harlan’s egalitarian impulses were informed by growing up alongside Robert, the rumored son of Harlan’s father and an enslaved woman, who made a fortune in the California Gold Rush and became a political power broker in Cincinnati. The second half of the book examines the cases that defined Harlan’s judicial legacy and their lasting impact on issues ranging from income tax to civil rights; Canellos notes that Harlan’s dissent in Plessy became a touchstone in Thurgood Marshall’s fight to reverse decades of racial discrimination. Written in lively prose and enriched with colorful character sketches and a firm command of the legal issues involved, this is a masterful introduction to two fascinating figures in American history. Agent: Wendy Strothman, Strothman Agency. (June)
From the Publisher
"Solidly accessible and thoroughly researched, it makes a persuasive case for Harlan’s significance and sometimes reads like a mystery." — The New York Times
"[A] superb biography...Canellos writes with fluency, sensitivity and clarity about complex legal arguments....June is the traditional month for major supreme court decisions. One hopes for the moral courage, clarity of thought and practical vision of John Marshall Harlan." — Guardian
"One of the most captivating judicial biographies I have read. This is partially due to Canellos' skill as a writer. He displays the journalist's ability to identify and capture a good story, and the talent to turn a phrase. But the thing that makes this book exceptional is how Canellos turns the subject of John Marshall Harlan into a poignant story of time and place in American history.” — The Journal of Supreme Court History
"If the power of one’s dissents are the measure of a justice’s greatness, then John Marshall Harlan, who served on the court between 1877 and 1911, deserves a much bigger tribute...[A] sympathetic and well-written new biography." — Christian Science Monitor
"Written in lively prose and enriched with colorful character sketches and a firm command of the legal issues involved, this is a masterful introduction to two fascinating figures in American history. " — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The riveting story of a courageous Kentucky lawyer who initiated significant challenges to anti–civil rights measures during an era of ubiquitous bigotry... An impressive work of deep research that moves smoothly along biographical as well as legal lines." — Kirkus Review (starred review)
"A meticulously researched and acutely analytical biography... Canellos offers a nuanced portrait." —Booklist
"The Great Dissenter is a magnificent biography of the righteous legal trailblazer John Marshall Harlan. Drawing upon a wealth of archival and published sources, deep-diving into the American horror-show of systemic racism, Canellos showcases Harlan as the rare Supreme Court Justice fighting for a more equitable economic system and civil rights for all people. Highly recommended!" — Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University and New York Times bestselling author of Cronkite and American Moonshot
"What a spectacular achievement! Canellos has single handedly resurrected the memory of a largely forgotten American hero. Far ahead of his time, Justice Harlan denounced corporate power and passionately defended the rights of labor, immigrants and African Americans. On the Supreme Court he was a bold and lonely dissenter, but as this book shows, history vindicates him and awards him a place of high honor in the pantheon of American freedom fighters." — Stephen Kinzer, bestselling author of The Brothers and The True Flag
“Peter Canellos has vividly brought to life an absolutely fascinating story that I’m embarrassed I didn’t know: A man raised in a slave-owning family who became one of the greatest champions of civil rights in the history of the Supreme Court, his lone-dissenter opinions cited decades after his death. John Marshall Harlan needs to be added to our pantheon of American heroes.” — Adam Hochschild, bestselling author of King Leopold’s Ghost and Bury the Chains
"John Marshall Harlan is one of the most fascinating and important figures of modern America, and this book does him justice. Carefully researched, and rewarding even informed readers with rich insight into Harlan’s life and work, The Great Dissenter is a must-read, both for students of the Supreme Court, and for those concerned about the past, present, and future of racial equality in the United States.” — Gabriel J. Chin, Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law, University of California, Davis
"Peter Canellos is a brilliant researcher and writer who takes us on an enlightening tour through history made new in retrospect. His focus on Justice John Harlan’s African-American half-brother Robert Harlan, a former slave whose storied career, financial success, and political and race activism were truly remarkable for the day, adds significance and complexity to his storytelling. Both Harlan men taunted and challenged the governmental powers that be, demanding that America tilt toward realizing its best self. This work is a tour de force and every individual interested in the history of our country’s political and societal steps, both forward and back, should consider it must reading." — Elizabeth Dowling Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of A Slave in the White House and The Original Black Elite
"Canellos succeeds in showing us how central Justice Harlan's roots— from his Kentucky background to his half-black brother, Robert Harlan— were to shaping many of his views on controversial social issues and landmark civil rights cases in American history." — Nikki Taylor, Chair of the Department of History, Howard University, and author of Frontiers of Freedom and America's First Black Socialist
"The Great Dissenter is a superb achievement. Based on exhaustive research and well written, this study fully explains the forces that shaped a slaveholding Kentucky Unionist, a forward-looking justice, and a great man." — James C. Klotter, The State Historian of Kentucky, and author of Henry Clay and Kentucky
“Canellos’s tale of the parallel lives of Justice Harlan and his mixed-race brother, Robert Harlan, delve into the complexities of American life in post-Civil War America and make a significant contribution to the history of one of the greatest Justices of the Supreme Court and Robert Harlan, an unsung hero of African American History.” — C. Ellen Connally, Judge (Retired); Former Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Akron College of Law, and member of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio History Connection.
Library Journal
06/01/2021
In this biography, veteran journalist Canellos (Last Lion) examines post-Civil War Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan (1833–1911), with the added perspective of modern politics and values. Harlan's several dissenting opinions on civil rights cases were, Canellos argues, extremely prescient and a guide for judicial recognition of civil rights and due process in the 20th century. This book effectively covers Harlan's primary influences: his religious background, Civil War military service for the Union, and upbringing in a slaveholding Kentucky Whig political family. (Harlan didn't free the enslaved people in his household until the 13th Amendment was ratified.) Canellos devotes considerable attention to Harlan's close relationship with half-brother Robert Harlan (1816–97), who was born into slavery at the Harlan family plantation. In the author's telling, Robert, an activist and politician, influenced Justice Harlan to eventually advocate against racial discrimination and to be the lone dissenting justice on Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which established the "separate but equal" doctrine of segregation. VERDICT Canellos has written a skillful biography that illuminates the lives of both John Harlan and Robert Harlan. It will spark the interest of readers looking for more insight on the Reconstruction era. As in Canellos's previous books, the life and times of his subjects come alive here.—Mark Jones, Mercantile Lib., Cincinnati
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2021-04-14
A thorough biography of the Supreme Court justice who famously said, “our Constitution is color blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.”
Canellos, the former executive editor of Politico, delivers the riveting story of a courageous Kentucky lawyer who initiated significant challenges to anti–civil rights measures during an era of ubiquitous bigotry. John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911) is remembered especially by his ringing Supreme Court dissents in three disgraceful cases passed by near unanimity: the Civil Rights Cases of 1883, focused on arbitrary discrimination by establishments; Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, which established the “separate but equal” doctrine of Jim Crow segregation in public spaces for the next 60 years; and Lochner v. New York, a setback for labor legislation that would become especially troublesome during the New Deal. In 1876, Harlan was appointed to the Supreme Court by the recently elected president, Rutherford Hayes, who desired a Southerner for the post—though the Great Dissenter would prove to be a decidedly “eccentric” Southerner. Harlan grew up in a family that owned slaves, including his half brother, Robert, who built a successful career for himself as a freed man. Canellos shows how Robert, “horse-racing impresario, gold rush entrepreneur, financier of Black-owned businesses, world traveler, state representative, and leading Black citizen in Ohio,” had a profound impact on his brother. Despite the fact that the final postwar civil rights amendment had been ratified in 1870, by the time Harlan was appointed, the meaning of all of them was still unclear. Harlan was the lone voice insisting that a “legal revolution had been won on the battlefields of Shiloh, Antietam, Gettysburg, and Manassas.” His dissent “provided the only shred of faith in the system, the only real evidence that America wasn’t completely separating along color lines.” Given the recent heated debates about Supreme Court justices and civil rights legislation, this expert biography is especially timely and significant.
An impressive work of deep research that moves smoothly along biographical as well as legal lines.
