It's a true story that reads like gripping fiction: in 1942, eight German terrorists landed by submarine on American shores on a sabotage mission devised by Hitler. When one of them, a hapless US citizen, betrayed the mission to the FBI, Roosevelt appointed a special military tribunal to authorize the death penalty omitting proper legal procedure. Army Colonel Kenneth Royall, a respected lawyer charged with defending the saboteurs, courageously fought the lost cause for the saboteurs' Constitutional rights.
More than sixty years later, George W. Bush, in the wake of 9/11, cited Roosevelt's act as a precedent for indefinitely imprisoning US citizens and suspected "enemy combatants" without charge. O'Donnell illustrates the parallels between then and now, offering a cautionary tale of the danger of unchecked executive power in a time of crisis.
About the Author :
Pierce O'Donnell has been named one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America by the National Law Journal and is coauthor of the bestseller Fatal Subtraction. A former US Supreme Court law clerk, he lives in Montecito, California.
Raymond Todd is an actor and director in the theater as well as a poet and documentary filmmaker. He plays jazz trombone for the Leatherstocking quartet, an ensemble that gets its name from one of his favorite Blackstone narrations, The Deerslayer. Todd lives in New York.
Anthony Lewis was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who transformed American legal journalism. He is the author of Gideon's Trumpet which concerned Gideon v. Wainwright, the 1963 decision that guaranteed lawyers to poor defendants charged with serious crimes. Lewis was a New York Times reporter at the Supreme Court from 1957 to 1964 and wrote an Op-Ed column for thirty years called "At Home Abroad" or "Abroad at Home" depending on where he was writing from. He also taught at the Harvard Law School where he was a Lecturer on Law from 1974 to 1989. He has also been the James Madison Visiting Professor at Columbia University. Anthony Lewis died in 2013 at the age of eighty-five.
Review :
"A chillingly true story of foreign terrorists who reached American soil almost sixty years before 9/11."
-- "Barry Richard, counsel for President George W. Bush in Bush v. Gore"
"A masterful account of how the government and those we rely on to preserve our liberties can fail in moments of crisis...This is history that speaks to us today."
-- "Arthur R. Miller, Bruce Bromley Professor of Law, Harvard University"
"A passionate defense of the Bill of Rights."
-- "Publishers Weekly"
"I highly recommen Pierce O'Donnell's timely book. It is a compelling and prophetic message which deserves the careful attention of every American."
-- "Rev. Robert F. Drinan, SJ, professor of law, Georgetown University"
"O'Donnell is a great storytell [who] reminds us that if we wage war without regard to the values that define society, the terrorists will have won already."
-- "US Army Colonel H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty"
"O'Donnell is a master storyteller who vividly brings to life the trying times of World War II and a nation gripped by fear."
-- "Johnnie Cochran"
"Reads like a spy novel, only it's all true."
-- "David Cole, author of the American Book Award-winning Enemy Aliens"
"A passionate defense of the Bill of Rights mixed with a story as entertaining as a political thriller. Raymond Todd's narration is an excellent complement to the material."
-- "AudioFile"
"This book addresses an important and emotional national issue, and if we cannot even debate it, then the Constitution is dead. Strongly recommended."
-- "Library Journal"
