We review a biography on the late Justice William Brennan, who was the
"power behind the throne" on the Supreme Court from the era of Frankfurter
to the time of Reinquist. Coming from a working class background, and
having a father who was a labor leader and politician, Brennan had a special
feel for the common people and for civil rights and liberties. The author
shows how time and again Brennan would elicit consensus among the disparate
justices in order to write the most liberal opinions possible. It was his
work which produced Roe v Wade and many other opinions in which civil
liberties were enhanced. It might have been called the "Warren Court," but
it was Brennan who actually did the work and produced the outcomes.