Note: the following was originally published in the Capital Area Bar Association Newsletter.

The Education of a Lifetime is former University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat’s memoir. Sprinkled with wisdom and humor, the book is an enjoyable read. Divided into seventy-five short chapters, the book covers Khayat’s childhood in Moss Point, playing football for Ole Miss and the Washington Redskins and ends with his term as chancellor at Ole Miss. Khayat’s life intersected with many renowned Mississippians and important events over the last fifty years. Like Forrest Gump, Khayat hung out with Elvis, played for a legendary football coach and has a charming personality. Unlike Forrest Gump, Khayat is smart.

When I picked up the book I was eager to read Khayat’s account of losing his bid to become dean of the Ole Miss Law School in October 1993. As one of Khayat’s former students, I supported his being named dean. But in a surprising (to me) 14-7 vote, the law school faculty voted Khayat “not acceptable.” The book explains that the fourteen faculty members who voted against Khayat viewed him as unacceptable because they wanted an African-America dean of the law school. Ironically, the faculty members who were trying to improve the law school’s image on racial issues were voting against a man who would go on to lead the University’s efforts to modernize its image on racial issues. The faculty vote was hurtful to Khayat. But it all worked out for the best. Khayat was named Chancellor of the entire university. And it’s likely that some of the faculty members who voted against Khayat now work in the new law school that bears Khayat’s name. It’s funny how things work out sometimes.

Two years after Khayat lost his bid to become dean of the law school, the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning unanimously selected Khayat as the fifteenth chancellor of the University of Mississippi. Khayat served as chancellor for fourteen years. He led the transformation of Ole Miss from a second class university to a flagship institution of which the entire state can be proud.

When I arrived in Oxford as a law school student in 1990, two things quickly became apparent to me: (1) people who attended Ole Miss as undergraduates had a deep affinity for the university and Oxford; and (2) I did not understand why. I did not tell anyone that, but I remember thinking it. I also remember feeling a bit guilty about my thoughts. But now I do not have to feel guilty—Khayat basically says the same things in his memoir.

The transformation of the university and Oxford during Khayat’s tenure was remarkable. When Khayat became Chancellor, the campus looked run-down and the main library was a bit of a dump. The appearance of the buildings and grounds on campus were vastly improved. Khayat led efforts to raise funds for projects like the Barksdale Honors College, Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts (site of a 2008 presidential debate) and library improvements required for the school to obtain a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

There was also little appealing about the City of Oxford in 1990 compared to today. A first time visitor to Oxford today would have a hard time envisioning the town just twenty years ago. During that time period, the square transformed from appearing to be on life support to arguably the coolest venue in the state. Twenty years ago people drove into Oxford on game days and left town after the game. Now, Oxford is a destination even on non-game weekends.

Rather than run from Ole Miss’s embarrassing past on racial issues, Khayat tackled them head on. In Charles Eagles’ book the Price of Defiance- James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss, Eagles examines the lingering damage caused to Ole Miss by the State of Mississippi’s open resistance to Meredith’s enrollment at Ole Miss. In The Education of a Lifetime, Khayat picks up where Eagles left off and describes the efforts in the 1990’s to 2000’s to repair the scars at Ole Miss caused by the resistance to end white supremacy. Khayat notes: “[t]hose of us who grew up in the white South, and particularly Mississippi, were so accustomed to Old South songs and sights and symbols during sporting events that the origins of the emblems weren’t carefully considered. Nor was the pain they caused.”

The two main symbols Khayat is talking about are the Confederate flag and the Colonel Rebel mascot. Khayat—at the urging of the head coaches of all the major sports on campus—realized that these symbols had to go. Yes they hurt the university on the playing fields because it made recruiting black athletes harder. But more importantly, these symbols stained the university’s perception nationally and linked the school to Mississippi’s efforts to prevent desegregation and an end to white supremacy in the 1960’s. To many people, the symbols made Ole Miss look racist.

The decision to eliminate confederate symbols at Ole Miss was deeply unpopular with some people. The school received hundreds of letters protesting the decision, including many filled with curses and threats. Honestly, many of those who were most offended were nuts. But unfortunately, it was not just crack-pots who were unhappy with Khayat’s leadership on the symbol issue. Khayat had friends who disagreed with the decision and let him know it. There was no convincing many people who disagreed with the decision to move forward by cutting some of the ties with the past. But it’s hard to argue with the University’s success since those decisions were made.

Getting rid of Colonel Rebel was fairly easy. Getting rid of Confederate flags at games raised First Amendment issues and was a trickier problem. Ultimately, the school did not ban the flag. Instead, it banned the sticks that flags are attached to. It was pretty clever. The implementation of the stick ban is a good story that Khayat covers in detail.

Khayat is about as humble of a former professional athlete as you will ever find. Most of the football stories in the book center on Khayat’s descriptions of being physically over-matched when he arrived at Ole Miss and in the NFL. Maybe so. But Khayat was a key member of Ole Miss’ greatest football team ever: the 1959 team that gave up a total of twenty-one points for the entire season, shut out eight opponents, and lost only to Billy Cannon and LSU on the most famous single play in the history of college football. If Ole Miss stops Cannon’s epic 89-yard punt return or punches it in near the goal line later in the game, the 1959 teams goes down in history as probably the greatest college football team of all time. Khayat made the Ole Miss team of the century, played in an NFL Pro Bowl and was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

One of the funniest stories in the book is Khayat’s description of introducing himself to Ole Miss’ legendary football coach Johnny Vaught when Khayat arrived at Ole Miss as a freshman. Vaught, who was hitting golf balls in a campus field at the time, dismissed Khayat with, “I look forward to you being a Rebel, Eddie.” Then, whenever Khayat kicked a field goal or extra point, Vaught would congratulate him with “good job, Eddie.”

The Education of a Lifetime is both informative and enjoyable. Anyone with an interest in Ole Miss, Oxford or Mississippi history will probably like “Ed’s” book.

Laurence Leamor’s The Price of Justice covers the more than decade long (and still going) battle in Caperton v. Massey Energy.

This is the West Virginia case where a defendant lost a massive judgment in state court and then went out and replaced a state Supreme Court Justice via massive campaign contributions before the appeal was decided.

The West Virginia Supreme Court has only five justices, so one vote is huge. The bought and paid for judge refused to recuse himself from the case and predictably voted for Massey in the appeal. The other two justices who ruled in favor of Massey are also portrayed unfavorably in the book. One is married to the state’s premier mass tort plaintiff’s lawyer.

The insinuation is that it’s good for her husband if all the other plaintiff lawyers lose their appeals. Another justice always seems to rule for the corporate interest, except in cases involving the spouse of his fellow justice (the mass tort lawyer). So the plaintiff lawyer who’s wife is on the court wins, all the other plaintiff lawyers always lose. I don’t know this to be true. But that’s the impression the book leaves.

The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court with the legendary Ted Olsen representing the plaintiff. The Supreme Court ruled that the West Virginia justice should have recused himself.

The case was still pending when the book was printed. The plaintiff lost again at the West Virginia Supreme Court (this time on a forum selection clause) and the case was pending in state court in Virginia, some 15 years after the initial filing.

The main characters in the book were David Fawcett and Bruce Stanley, who both now practice with Reed Smith in Pittsburgh. The book also extensively explored the plaintiff (Hugh Caperton), CEO of Massey (Don Blankenship), the funny down-home trial judge, Ted Olsen and various members of the West Virginia Supreme Court.

Here are a few passages from the book that particularly hit home with me:

Fawcett may have seemed perfectly self-assured, but he constantly worried that he had not done enough and was not good enough. His underlying fear of imperfection was the great engine of his life. When one of his cases received a verdict that he did not think was fair or just, he blamed himself.

Throughout the month of February 2009, during the last four weeks before the Supreme Court arguments, Olson sat from early morning until late afternoon in a conference room, focused on nothing but Caperton. He took no phone calls, read no-emails…

People talked about civil suits sometimes as if they were tepid, academic affairs, but the emotions were enormous, and sometimes they almost ripped a person apart.

This is a great book. Every bit as good as a Civil Action, and probably better. More than any other book I’ve read, this book drives home how grueling litigating big cases can be to the parties and attorneys.

On the surface, the phrase “The Price of Justice” means the fact that Massey and Blakenship spent millions of dollars on campaign contributions to assure a win. But it’s deeper than that. Lawyers and their clients pay an emotional price over and extended period of time in big cases.

The book reinforced the following for me:

1. federal court may be preferable to state court because cases are resolved faster;
2. appellate judges should be appointed; and
3. practicing law is a hard profession.

This is a great book. Highly recommended.

All the Justice Money Can Buy is Snigdha Prakash’s book about a Mark Lanier trial in the Vioxx litigation against Merck. I stumbled across the book on Amazon and decided to give it a read.

Lanier is a high-profile trial lawyer from Texas who has a very successful record. The book contains a quote that Lanier is one of the top 2–3 trial lawyers in the country—at worse. It is hard to argue with that statement. I will not try.

One of the things that Lanier is well known for is developing his own unique courtroom style that heavily incorporates PowerPoint presentations. Prakash details how Lanier backs up his groundbreaking use of PowerPoint in trial with a stellar support team, meticulous planning, detailed organization and tireless work. It’s not unusual for Lanier to wake up at 1:30 a.m. to prepare for the day’s trial testimony.

But Lanier has a lot of help. I can’t imagine how nice it would be to have my own in-house jury consultant, an aid de camp who is an outstanding attorney and a team of support attorneys and staff. It sounds a bit like a military general going to trial.

Here is the book’s Amazon description:

Mark Lanier knew he was facing an opponent willing to break every rule in the book, and each part of his case had to go just right for him to win. He had done it twice before. Could he do it again?

All the Justice Money Can Buy is the true-life story of a courtroom showdown between the man many consider the best trial lawyer of his generation and one of the nation’s richest and most-respected corporations.

Journalist Snigdha Prakash is embedded with the plaintiffs’ team for the seven-week trial, and takes us into the trenches of the tough—and dirty—battle between corporate interests and the individual that plays out in the courts. From early mornings when Lanier works in his hotel suite, to the daily post-mortems after court, and late nights in the plaintiffs’ “war room,” Prakash shadows Lanier and his team.

With its bird’s-eye view of the strategic thinking and meticulous planning that undergird Lanier’s seemingly unrehearsed performances in court, and of the well-oiled machine of lawyers and assistants that backs his every move, All the Justice Money Can Buy is a fast-paced, often funny journey behind the front-lines of a high-stakes, 21st century legal trial. Along the way, Prakash renders a piercing portrait of the challenges that await those who would take on corporate interests.

Part corporate expose´ and part legal thriller, All the Justice Money Can Buy is a gripping—and topical—read for our scandal-plagued times.

The trial was a New Jersey state court Vioxx trial on behalf of two plaintiffs. Lanier represented one of the plaintiffs and took the lead in proving liability in the trial, which bifurcated Merck’s liability for failure to warn and causation. That portion of the trial lasted two months.

Despite Lanier’s masterful work at trial, the jury found against Lanier’s client on liability. Lanier did not participate in the second phase of the trial, which resulted in a $47.5 million verdict for the remaining plaintiff.

The book is not a play-by-play of the entire trial. Instead, it focuses on opening and closing statements and the testimony of several key witnesses. This aspect of the book should make it more readable for non-litigators. As a litigation attorney, I would have loved it if the book was twice as long and covered in detail the entire trial and the pre-trial procedure.

It takes an enormous amount of time and work to get a pharmaceutical case to trial. Millions of pages of documents must be reviewed and appropriate expert witnesses must be hired and educated on the facts of the case so they can give testimony on the issues in the case. I can pretty much guarantee that the vast majority of that work on the plaintiff side was done by lawyers other than Lanier.

Those nameless lawyers are the unsung heroes of the Vioxx litigation. Lanier and other trial lawyers could not try a good case without that leg work having been performed by others. Of course, that work would not be very interesting to read about. Prakash understandably focused on the entertaining part: the trial.

I enjoyed this book. The story was an interesting read with some big characters on both sides of the case. This book should have widespread appeal for plaintiffs and defense lawyers, judges and members of the public who are interested in trials or the alleges corruption of the pharmaceutical industry.

Trial lawyers can identify with Lanier’s plight in the case: trying a great case, but losing anyway.

Want to improve your legal writing? If so, you may want to consider reading: Point Made, How to Write Like the Nation’s Top Advocates, by Ross Guberman.

The book’s product description on Amazon states in part:

With Point Made, legal writing expert Ross Guberman throws a life preserver to attorneys, who are under more pressure than ever to produce compelling prose. What is the strongest opening for a motion or brief? How to draft winning headings? How to tell a persuasive story when the record is dry and dense? The answers are “more science than art,” says Guberman, who has analyzed stellar arguments by distinguished attorneys to develop step-by-step instructions for achieving the results you want.
The author takes an empirical approach, drawing heavily on the writings of the nation’s 50 most influential lawyers, including Barack Obama, John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Ted Olson, and David Boies. Their strategies, demystified and broken down into specific, learnable techniques, become a detailed writing guide full of practical models.

I found this book interesting. The examples from briefs written by legal heavyweights like John Roberts show that not only is it ok to depart from traditional, wordy “legalese” writing, it is preferred. For instance, the book encourages lawyers to consider streamlining information with tables and bullet point lists.

I have been using tables in my briefs for the last few months since reading this suggestion. I find it helpful for compressing a lot of information onto one page. I think lawyers will see a lot more of this and other similar techniques in the coming years with heavy use of the internet making everyone—including judges—speed skimmers.

Books on legal writing are a bit like eating spinach. Or in Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jess Dickinson’s case, peas. They may not be that exciting, but they are good for us. Point Made has a list price of under $20 and sell for much less on Amazon. The book is a real bargain and worth reading for litigators who are always looking to improve their game.

You Can’t Teach Hungry is John Morgan’s self-described how-to guide for building the multi-million dollar law firm. Morgan is the founder of the Morgan & Morgan personal injury law firm that has developed a national footprint. The firm lists eleven lawyers in its Jackson office, which makes it one of the largest plaintiff firms in the state.

Morgan’s book is part nuts and bolts suggestions and part business philosophy. The latter is what I enjoyed the most.

Morgan definitely understands lawyers. He recognizes that many lawyers are poor businessmen and simply hope for the best for their practice. His descriptions of some lawyers are funny, such as the big-talking lawyers who always tell war stories about the same trial that was years ago. Incidentally, I think that I am speaking for many lawyers when I say that the only war stories that we are interested in hearing are the ones with a punch-line at the end.

Morgan attributes a fear of failure as a common characteristic of successful lawyers. That is something I can identify with. I’ve had my own practice for nine years. My practice has been successful and financially stable for the entire time, despite a transition from an almost all defense practice to an almost all plaintiff practice. But success and experience has not made me fear failure less.

I fear failure more today than I did the day that I walked out of Baker Donelson. The reason is that now I have tasted bitter defeat from losing trials where there was no recovery or fee unless we won and have seen other lawyers’ practices fail. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s there were lawyers making a fortune in Mississippi who were not really practicing law—much less litigating and trying cases. Today, there are smart and hard working lawyers who struggle to make it.

Morgan suggests that when the fear of failure leaves a lawyer, he or she should hang it up.

Morgan is a huge proponent of television advertising. He states that many lawyers who try television ad campaigns do it wrong. He recommends developing a catch phrase like his firm’s brilliant “for the people.” If everyone advertised like Morgan’s firm, I might not think that it is damaging to the profession. But the get-rich-quick commercials starring plaintiffs who look fine are a ball-and-chain around the neck of those of us who actually try cases.

Although the book is written for plaintiff lawyers, some defense lawyers might enjoy its insights on the business of law. The book is $20 on Amazon or $9.99 on the Kindle. You don’t need to get much out of it to make it worth that price. The book even comes with an offer for a free gift for those who read to near the end of the book. What is it? Read the book. But I can say that Morgan does deliver the gift as promised.

The newest book devoted exclusively to cross-examination is Cross-Examination Handbook: Persuasion, Strategies & Techniques. Here is the book’s website and here is its Amazon page. Here is the cover and a list of the book’s chapters:

1. Introduction to Book, CD, & Website
2. Purposes of Cross & the Total Trial Approach
3. The Content & Concession-Seeking Cross
4. Constructing the Cross: Your Chance to Testify
5. Impeachment Cross: Reliability
6. Impeachment Cross: Report
7. Impeachment Cross: Reporter
8. Character & Conduct in Trial
9. Witness Control: Strategies & Techniques
10. Preparing the Winning Cross-Examination
11. Cross-Examining Expert Witnesses
12. Forgetters, Perjurers, Adverse Witnesses, Deponents, & More
13. Ethical & Legal Boundaries of Cross
14. Cases & Assignments

I have been looking for a good and current book devoted to cross-examination. This book meets that need.

The authors provide a comprehensive overview of cross-examination from case theory development to executing cross with difficult witnesses. The book is well organized and easy to read. The book manages to be basic enough to be a good choice for a trial practice class and advanced enough to be valuable to experienced lawyers. I consider myself in the latter category, so I will address how reading this book helped me.

I have become frustrated in the last few years with the inconsistency of my cross-examinations. I have had crosses that other lawyers told me were the best that they have ever seen. But I have also had crosses that were mediocre—at least to me. I put exhaustive preparation into both categories, so I could not figure out what seperated the great ones from the mediocre ones. I think that I have the answer after reading this book. What is it? I’m not saying. Read the book. Find your own secrets.

There is one point on which I disagree with the authors. The book advocates taking “full discovery,” which includes deposing all witnesses who the opposing party may call at trial. I disagree.

I believe that there are valid reasons for not deposing the other side’s witnesses, particularly their expert witnesses. I think that you need to weigh all the factors and make a decision about who to depose. I disagree with mindlessly scheduling depositions of all potential witnesses. You may end up doing the opposing side a favor by doing this. But that is a minor quibble on a side issue. The book’s organized approach explaining how to prepare for and exectute a good cross is fantastic.

Finally, the book’s price point makes it a real bargain. The sticker price is $39.50 and you can save a couple of bucks on Amazon. That is a really good price for a trial practice book. There is no excuse for this book not being in every litigator’s library.

I recently finished reading Typography for Lawyers by Matthew Butterick. The book’s byline describes it as “essential tools for polished & persuasive documents. I agree.

// // What is typography? Basically typography is how a document looks. Lawyers and judges think about typography all the time. Ever said: “this brief looks like crap”? If so, you are talking about typography. This is the first book on typography specifically for lawyers.

Butterick explains that good typography helps the reader. Bad typography is harder to read and more likely to lose the attention of the reader—think judge.

In a mere 216 pages Butterick explains how to implement good typography into your practice. The book tackles letterhead, business cards and motions. It also gives step-by-step instructions on how to implement the advice in both Word and Wordperfect.

As expected, the book also discussed fonts. Butterick hates Arial and also frowns on the commonly used font of Times New Roman. Before even finishing the book, I changed my font in letters and briefs from Times New Roman, which Butterick says “connotes apathy.” I now use Franklin Gothic Medium.

As of this writing, the book has 14 customer reviews on Amazon. All 14 rate the book as a 5, on a scale of 1–5. Reviewers describe the book as indispensable and something that should be on every lawyer’s desk.

I suspect that five years from now this book will be on the desk of most young lawyers. If I were managing a law firm, I would give a copy to all entering first year associates and order them to read and implement the book.

For older lawyers, reading this book should be a badge of honor. If you care enough about your skills to read a book on typography, you must be a serious lawyer.

Or a total law-goob. One of the two for sure.

In all seriousness, I am glad that I found this book and recommend it for all serious lawyers. It would also be a good idea to ask your staff member who formats your documents to read it as well.

I heard about Charles W. Eagles book The Price of Defiance– James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss after it was the subject of a panel discussion at the 2010 Mississippi Bar Convention. I’m glad that I did.

Here is the description of the book from the inside flap of the cover:

When James Meredith enrolled as the first African American student at the University of Mississippi in 1962, the resulting riots produced more casualties than any other clash of the civil rights era. Eagles shows that the violence resulted from the university’s and the state’s long defiance of the civil rights movement and federal law. Ultimately, the price of such behavior–the price of defiance–was not only the murderous riot that rocked the nation and almost closed the university but also the nation’s enduring scorn for Ole Miss and Mississippi. Eagles paints a remarkable portrait of Meredith himself by describing his unusual family background, his personal values, and his service in the U.S. Air Force, all of which prepared him for his experience at Ole Miss.

Attempts to keep James Meredith out of Ole Miss were at the epicenter of white Mississippi’s effort to maintain segregation and, more importantly, white supremacy. The opponent to Meredith’s attempt to enroll at Ole Miss was the State of Mississippi itself, led by Governor Ross Barnett.

In the early 1960’s it was a crime in Mississippi to attempt to overthrow segregation. Judges, politicians, TV stations and most newspapers vehemently opposed both racial equality and desegregation. Segregationists used terms such as “mongrelization” of the races and whatever other scare cards they could dream up to frighten white people.

But by 1960 white supremacy was probably more about power and money than racist ideals. Thinking whites had to know that once African-Americans could vote and had equal access to education that whites would lose their monopoly on political offices and patronage. Putting it bluntly, a bunch of dumb rednecks were going to be out of a job. Plus, the “help” might balk at continuing to work for slave wages.

African-Americans who opposed the “Southern way of life” risked death. Whites who opposed the system risked being ostracized by whites and getting run out of the state. A white student who ate in the Ole Miss cafeteria with Meredith had her whole family run out of the state. As a result, there was a silent tolerance of the brutal system much the same way that Germans allowed the Holocaust twenty years earlier.

Ole Miss was caught in the middle of the controversy. Eagles explains how the chancellor and administration ceded control of racial matters to politicians and their appointed trustees. Although it’s easy to criticize them now, the chancellor and administration would have been run out of town had they opposed the politicians who controlled the University.

Eagles persuasively argues that everything from Oxford being a back-water town until the boom in the 1990’s to Ole Miss not winning an SEC Football title in over 40 years can be traced to the national scorn caused by the resistance to Meredith.

Reading this book evoked a lot of sadness for me. The “Southern way of life” was so unfair and oppressive for so many Mississippians. Over half the people in Mississippi were African-Americans until around 1930 and Mississippi has always had a huge black population. The system existed from until the end of slavery until people my parent’s age were grown adults. Including the slavery years, there were 150 years of slavery and white supremacy. We are less than 50 years from the Civil Rights Movement.

The names of many of the players in the dispute will be familiar to Mississippi lawyers. Retired 5^th Circuit Judge Charles Clark was one of the lawyers who represented the State in opposing Meredith’s efforts, and Jackson lawyer Bill Goodman was one of the attorneys who advised Governor Barnett during the crisis. Again, it’s easy now to criticize lawyers who represented the State, but that was a different time and people who did not live through it should not take a holier than thou view of something that they didn’t live through.

Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jimmy Robertson makes an appearance as a writer and editor for the Daily Mississippian in the early 1960’s who took the controversial position that—God forbid—Ole Miss schedule teams that included African American players. Pretty ironic that it was so controversial given the fact that now before taking the field, every Ole Miss coach and player touches the statue of former player Chucky Mullins (an African-American). Jackson resident the Reverend Duncan Gray Jr. was a rector in Oxford in the early 1960’s and was a rare progressive voice among white Mississippians.

Given how far Mississippi has advanced, it is easy to overlook the courage exhibited by individuals like Meredith, Robertson and Gray, who put themselves in harm’s way by voicing opposition to white supremacy. But if we are being honest, few of us can say with certainty that we would have exhibited such moral courage during that era. Indeed, look at how many people who did not.

There is still racism in Mississippi, as there is in most parts of the country. But the notion of white supremacy is dead except for with complete nuts. In my experience, even people who are racist because of their general views about African-Americans believe that everyone should have equal access to education, job opportunities and political office. Otherwise, you would not see African-Americans elected to political office in majority white districts. But it does occasionally happen.

In conclusion, The Price of Defiance is a fantastic book that makes you think about how far Mississippi has advanced, but also the depth of the hole that we are digging out of. The book should be required reading for all Mississippi lawyers and all students at Mississippi’s colleges and law schools.

I heard about Charles W. Eagles book The Price of Defiance– James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss after it was the subject of a panel discussion at the 2010 Mississippi Bar Convention. I’m glad that I did.

Here is the description of the book from the inside flap of the cover:

When James Meredith enrolled as the first African American student at the University of Mississippi in 1962, the resulting riots produced more casualties than any other clash of the civil rights era. Eagles shows that the violence resulted from the university’s and the state’s long defiance of the civil rights movement and federal law. Ultimately, the price of such behavior–the price of defiance–was not only the murderous riot that rocked the nation and almost closed the university but also the nation’s enduring scorn for Ole Miss and Mississippi. Eagles paints a remarkable portrait of Meredith himself by describing his unusual family background, his personal values, and his service in the U.S. Air Force, all of which prepared him for his experience at Ole Miss.

Attempts to keep James Meredith out of Ole Miss were at the epicenter of white Mississippi’s effort to maintain segregation and, more importantly, white supremacy. The opponent to Meredith’s attempt to enroll at Ole Miss was the State of Mississippi itself, led by Governor Ross Barnett.

In the early 1960’s it was a crime in Mississippi to attempt to overthrow segregation. Judges, politicians, TV stations and most newspapers vehemently opposed both racial equality and desegregation. Segregationists used terms such as “mongrelization” of the races and whatever other scare cards they could dream up to frighten white people.

But by 1960 white supremacy was probably more about power and money than racist ideals. Thinking whites had to know that once African-Americans could vote and had equal access to education that whites would lose their monopoly on political offices and patronage. Putting it bluntly, a bunch of dumb rednecks were going to be out of a job. Plus, the “help” might balk at continuing to work for slave wages.

African-Americans who opposed the “Southern way of life” risked death. Whites who opposed the system risked being ostracized by whites and getting run out of the state. A white student who ate in the Ole Miss cafeteria with Meredith had her whole family run out of the state. As a result, there was a silent tolerance of the brutal system much the same way that Germans allowed the Holocaust twenty years earlier.

Ole Miss was caught in the middle of the controversy. Eagles explains how the chancellor and administration ceded control of racial matters to politicians and their appointed trustees. Although it’s easy to criticize them now, the chancellor and administration would have been run out of town had they opposed the politicians who controlled the University.

Eagles persuasively argues that everything from Oxford being a back-water town until the boom in the 1990’s to Ole Miss not winning an SEC Football title in over 40 years can be traced to the national scorn caused by the resistance to Meredith.

Reading this book evoked a lot of sadness for me. The “Southern way of life” was so unfair and oppressive for so many Mississippians. Over half the people in Mississippi were African-Americans until around 1930 and Mississippi has always had a huge black population. The system existed from until the end of slavery until people my parent’s age were grown adults. Including the slavery years, there were 150 years of slavery and white supremacy. We are less than 50 years from the Civil Rights Movement.

The names of many of the players in the dispute will be familiar to Mississippi lawyers. Retired 5^th Circuit Judge Charles Clark was one of the lawyers who represented the State in opposing Meredith’s efforts, and Jackson lawyer Bill Goodman was one of the attorneys who advised Governor Barnett during the crisis. Again, it’s easy now to criticize lawyers who represented the State, but that was a different time and people who did not live through it should not take a holier than thou view of something that they didn’t live through.

Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jimmy Robertson makes an appearance as a writer and editor for the Daily Mississippian in the early 1960’s who took the controversial position that—God forbid—Ole Miss schedule teams that included African American players. Pretty ironic that it was so controversial given the fact that now before taking the field, every Ole Miss coach and player touches the statue of former player Chucky Mullins (an African-American). Jackson resident the Reverend Duncan Gray Jr. was a rector in Oxford in the early 1960’s and was a rare progressive voice among white Mississippians.

Given how far Mississippi has advanced, it is easy to overlook the courage exhibited by individuals like Meredith, Robertson and Gray, who put themselves in harm’s way by voicing opposition to white supremacy. But if we are being honest, few of us can say with certainty that we would have exhibited such moral courage during that era. Indeed, look at how many people who did not.

There is still racism in Mississippi, as there is in most parts of the country. But the notion of white supremacy is dead except for with complete nuts. In my experience, even people who are racist because of their general views about African-Americans believe that everyone should have equal access to education, job opportunities and political office. Otherwise, you would not see African-Americans elected to political office in majority white districts. But it does occasionally happen.

In conclusion, The Price of Defiance is a fantastic book that makes you think about how far Mississippi has advanced, but also the depth of the hole that we are digging out of. The book should be required reading for all Mississippi lawyers and all students at Mississippi’s colleges and law schools.