Oxford Portraits: Earl Warren (PDF)

In Earl Warren, Christine Compston examines how a man with little judicial experience became one of the greatest Supreme Court chief justices in the history of the United States. A natural leader, Warren rose from a working-class childhood to become governor of California before he was appointed to the Supreme Court. Warren had the courage to make decisions that were politically unpopular yet constitutionally sound and morally right, such as his first major opinion Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated schools. By examining the life of this extraordinary judge, Earl Warren illuminates, with black-and-white photos and illustrations throughout, the struggles behind some of the most profound events of the 20th century, including World War II and the Japanese internment, the civil rights movement, the criminal protection revolution (i.e. Miranda V. Arizona), and the investigation of President Kennedy's assassination. Oxford Portraits are informative and insightful biographies of people whose lives shaped their times and continue to influence ours. Based on the most recent scholarship, they draw heavily on primary sources, including writings by and about their subjects. Each book is illustrated with a wealth of photographs, documents, memorabilia, framing the personality and achievements of its subject against the backdrop of history.