Frank Murphy: The Washington Years

Frank Murphy #3

by Sidney Fine

In this concluding volume of his definitive study of the life and times of Frank Murphy, Sidney Fine focuses on Murphy's service as attorney general and member of the United States Supreme Court. Concerned as much with the issues that confronted Murphy as with the man himself, Fine appraises Murphy's unusually eventful year as head of the Department of Justice and provides a remarkable behind-the-scenes account of the Supreme Court during one of the most significant and attention-getting decades in its history. Rarely has a scholarly work revealed so much about the decision-making process of the Supreme Court and about the acrimonious personal relations among some of the nation's most eminent justices. Fine's splendid account links a fascinating personality to a fascinating period of American history.

784 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

A historian of modern America, Sidney Fine taught at the University of Michigan. He earned his B.A. from Western Reserve University in 1942 and his M.A. (1944) and Ph.D. (1948) in history from the University of Michigan. His areas of interest included history of the American labor movement, the New Deal, and the history of Michigan and its political environment.