Oliver Wendell Holmes - A Life in War, Law, and Ideas

Oliver Wendell Holmes twice escaped death as a young Union officer in the Civil War when musket balls missed his heart and spinal cord by a fraction of an inch at the Battles of Ball’s Bluff and Antietam. He lived ever after with unwavering moral courage, unremitting scorn for dogma, and an insatiable intellectual curiosity.


Named to the Supreme Court by Theodore Roosevelt at age sixty-one, he served for nearly three decades, writing a series of famous, eloquent, and often dissenting opinions that would prove prophetic in securing freedom of speech, protecting the rights of criminal defendants, and ending the Court’s reactionary resistance to social and economic reforms.


As a pioneering legal scholar, Holmes revolutionized the understanding of common law by showing how the law always evolved to meet the changing needs of society. As an enthusiastic friend and indefatigable correspondent, he wrote thousands of personal letters brimming with humorous philosophical insights, trenchant comments on the current scene, and an abiding joy in fighting the good fight.


Drawing on many previously unpublished letters and records, Stephen Budiansky’s definitive biography offers the fullest portrait yet of this pivotal American figure, whose zest for life, wit, and intellect left a profound legacy in law and Constitutional rights, and who was an inspiring example of how to lead a meaningful life in a world of uncertainty and upheaval.

Oliver Wendell Holmes a scapat de doua ori de moarte ca tanar ofiter al Uniunii in Razboiul Civil, cand mingile de muschet i-au ratat inima si maduva spinarii cu o fractiune de centimetru la Bataliile Ball's Bluff si Antietam. A trait pentru totdeauna cu curaj moral neclintit, dispret neincetat pentru dogma si o curiozitate intelectuala nesatuita. Numit la Curtea Suprema de Theodore Roosevelt la varsta de saizeci si unu de ani, a slujit timp de aproape trei decenii, scriind o serie de celebre, elocvente si opinii adesea disidente care s-ar dovedi profetice in asigurarea libertatii de exprimare, protejarea drepturilor inculpatilor criminali si incheierea rezistentei reactionare a Curtii la reformele sociale si economice. In calitate de cercetator juridic pionier, Holmes a revolutionat intelegerea dreptului comun aratand modul in care legea a evoluat intotdeauna pentru a satisface nevoile in schimbare ale societatii.