A new biog­ra­phy of Clarence Darrow by John A. Farrell chron­i­cles the life of this famous American lawyer, known for his elo­quence in defend­ing unpop­u­lar clients and in secur­ing reprieves for those con­demned to death. He won life sen­tences for Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, whose crimes of kid­nap­ping and mur­der had gar­nered nation­al atten­tion. He often spoke pub­licly about his oppo­si­tion to cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Darrow had many famous clients dur­ing his career, includ­ing union leader Eugene Debs in the Pullman strike case, and John Scopes in the famous ​“Monkey Trial” regard­ing the teach­ing of evo­lu­tion, where he argued against Willam Jennings Bryan. 

(J. Farrell, ​“Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned,” Doubleday, 2011). See more Books on the death penalty.

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