The justice from Beacon Hill

by Liva Baker

In this masterful biography, Liva Baker explores the life and work of one of this country's most influential judges and legal scholars, Oliver Wendell Holmes. Drawing on much Holmes material untouched by other biographers, Baker begins with Holmes's Boston-Brahmin family, his complex relationship with his illustrious father, and the powerful impact on his life of his military experiences in the Civil War, in which he was severely wounded three times. She describes his years as a Boston lawyer and Harvard law professor, and the writing and reception of his seminal book, The Common Law, which catapulted Holmes into the pantheon of America's most creative legal thinkers. Holmes's work on the United States Supreme Court -- spanning three decades of decision-making, from 1902 to 1932 -- set the tone for American jurisprudence in the twentieth century. Some of his opinions, especially the pungent dissents, are still cited as precedent; his memorable phrases are quoted by laymen as well as ju