A More Perfect Union: To Establish Justice - Books and Film
The Wisconsin Humanities Council offers a "pre-packaged" DISCUSSION KIT for libraries, book clubs, campus and school groups, UW-Extension programs, or any not-for-profit or ad-hoc group.
A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr
Hardcover: 502 pages
Publisher: Vintage; First Vintage Books edition (August 27, 1996)
ISBN: 0679772677
Can lawsuits uncover the truth? What happens when the power and resources of the parties at odds are disproportionate? Harr's compelling, true story recounts the case constructed by a young personal injury lawyer on behalf of working class families of Woburn, Massachusetts. It takes the reader into the homes and hospitals where children died of leukemia, allegedly caused by the chemical waste of two major corporations. From behind-the-scenes negotiations in hotels and back rooms, to courtroom proceedings shaped by the peculiarities the U.S. legal system, Harr's suspenseful storytelling and eccentric characters reveal the messy, human way that justice is wrought.
Bombingham by Anthony Grooms
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: One World/Ballantine; Reprint edition (October 1, 2002)
ISBN: 0345452933
Bombingham begins as a deceptively simple coming-of-age story, but ultimately explores a rich tapestry of profound ethical and moral questions. While writing home to the parents of his friend, killed in Vietnam, Walter's mind returns to the explosions of his childhood in 1960s Birmingham. In the center of the nation's civil rights movement, young Walter and his sister were drawn into demonstrations with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and acts of civil disobedience. Simultaneously, they discovered a world beyond their parent's control. While they marched, tragedy unfolded at home, underscoring the implications that the tumultuous era had for the nation and the American family. The book powerfully explores questions of justice, and of life and death, and whether such matters are truly in the hands of the individual or a matter of fate.
For God And Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire by James Yee and Aimee Molloy
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Penguin PublicAffairs (October 2005)
ISBN: 1586483692
On September 11, 2001, James Yee was one of a very few Muslim Chaplains in the U.S. Army. As the nation sought to understand the 9/11 terrorist attacks, his superiors asked Yee to serve as a spokesperson for Islam to his fellow servicemen and the media. After the military established a prison for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Yee was assigned to serve its Muslim residents-both prisoners and U.S. military personnel. Returning home on leave, the military arrested Chaplain Yee and held him for seventy-six days in solitary confinement. No official charges were brought against him, but accusations of spying and aiding the enemy were leaked to the press. This personal account, from a first-generation American who grew up loving his country, attending West Point Military Academy, devoting years to military service, and then finding himself imprisoned and slandered for that service, is more than an individual story of injustice. Yee's account challenges readers to ask how we, as a nation, behave toward citizens and non-citizens alike in times of war and insecurity.
Sex Wars : A Novel of the Turbulent Post-Civil War Period by Marge Piercy
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: William Morrow (December 1, 2005)
ISBN: 0060789832
From an impoverished family of con artists, Victoria Woodhull uses her fierce intelligence and determination to become many things that were unheard of in 1860s New York: a successful stockbroker, an advocate for women's rights, and a candidate for the U.S. presidency. The flamboyant free-love proponent seeks out women's suffrage leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as she strives to shape her personal struggle for freedom into a broader political platform on behalf of all women. Meanwhile, Victorian reformer Anthony Comstock comes to national attention in a personal crusade against the corruption of society by pornography, birth control, and abortionists. Based on historical figures, Piercy brings to life the laws, conflicting beliefs, and social customs that first provoked women in the U.S. to organize for change.
Red Hook Justice, a film by Meema Spadola
Film generously provided by Wisconsin Public Television and Independent Lens
Can a different philosophical approach to justice reduce crime and heal a troubled neighborhood? This one-hour documentary goes behind the scenes of the Red Hook Community Justice Center, opened in 2000 in Brooklyn, NY under the watchful eye of the Department of Justice. The Justice Center has been an ambitious legal experiment in giving neighborhood residents improved access to justice, in tandem with appropriate social services, while building trust in the legal system. The film provides a realistic picture of the frustrations, failures and successes of community justice in action, and invites reflection on where theory and reality diverge in this attempt to make the dispensing of justice more just.