Fight of the Century
Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases
LIST PRICE $17.00
Free shipping when you spend $40. Terms apply.
Buy from Other Retailers
Table of Contents
About The Book
On January 19, 1920, a small group of idealists and visionaries, including Helen Keller, Jane Addams, Roger Baldwin, and Crystal Eastman, founded the American Civil Liberties Union. A century after its creation, the ACLU remains the nation’s premier defender of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.
In collaboration with the ACLU, authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman have curated an anthology of essays “full of struggle, emotion, fear, resilience, hope, and triumph” (Los Angeles Review of Books) about landmark cases in the organization’s one-hundred-year history. Fight of the Century takes you inside the trials and the stories that have shaped modern life. Some of the most prominent cases that the ACLU has been involved in—Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, Miranda v. Arizona—need little introduction. Others you may never even have heard of, yet their outcomes quietly defined the world we live in now. Familiar or little-known, each case springs to vivid life in the hands of the acclaimed writers who dive into the history, narrate their personal experiences, and debate the questions at the heart of each issue.
Hector Tobar introduces us to Ernesto Miranda, the felon whose wrongful conviction inspired the now-iconic Miranda rights—which the police would later read to the man suspected of killing him. Yaa Gyasi confronts the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, in which the ACLU submitted a friend of- the-court brief questioning why a nation that has sent men to the moon still has public schools so unequal that they may as well be on different planets. True to the ACLU’s spirit of principled dissent, Scott Turow offers a blistering critique of the ACLU’s stance on campaign finance.
These powerful stories, along with essays from Neil Gaiman, Meg Wolitzer, Salman Rushdie, Ann Patchett, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Louise Erdrich, George Saunders, and many more, remind us that the issues the ACLU has engaged over the past one hundred years remain as vital as ever today, and that we can never take our liberties for granted.
Chabon and Waldman are donating their advance to the ACLU and the contributors are forgoing payment.
Product Details
- Publisher: Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster (January 19, 2021)
- Length: 336 pages
- ISBN13: 9781501190414
Raves and Reviews
“Moving . . . Entertaining . . . It’s enlightening to watch some of our most masterly literary portraitists restore the warts and wardrobes, the motivations and machinations to those whose stories have been stripped down to surnames or pseudonyms.”
—Monica Youn, New York Times Book Review
"Vigorous, informative, and well-organized, this outstanding collection befits the ACLU’s substantial impact on American law and society."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A stunning collection of original and topical essays . . . [that] vividly brings consequential court cases to life."
—Booklist (starred review)
"A finely edited almanac of lively, contextually grounded stories that read like the greatest hits of freedom . . . Provides insights that are both riveting and refreshingly diverse."
—Kirkus Reviews
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Fight of the Century Trade Paperback 9781501190414
- Author Photo (jpg): Sergio De La Pava Photograph by Alex Phillips(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
- Author Photo (jpg): Meg Wolitzer Photo Credit:(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
- Author Photo (jpg): Elizabeth Strout (0.6 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
- Author Photo (jpg): Moriel Rothman-Zecher © Joanna Eldredge Morrissey(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
- Author Photo (jpg): Jennifer Egan Pieter M. Van Hattem(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
- Author Photo (jpg): Jesmyn Ward Photograph by Beowulf Sheehan(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
- Author Photo (jpg): Anthony Doerr Photo © Ulf Andersen(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
- Author Photo (jpg): Adrian Nicole LeBlanc Photo Credit:(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit