Judge Dave and the Rainbow People 1st edition by Sentelle, David B. (2002) Paperback

by David B. Sentelle

It's not every day that you read a book containing the full text of a consent agreement between parties to a health statute dispute and still find it very enjoyable. It's just as uncommon for a federal appeals court judge to write a book about the time he oversaw the peaceful assembly of thousands of middle-aged hippies in the woods of North Carolina. But that's what Judge Dave and the Rainbow People is about. The Rainbow People are not an organization as such. They're just whoever shows up around Independence Day each year at a place on federal land decided the year before. The people who show up are mostly baby boomer ex-hippies trying to relive the Summer of Love. They come by the thousands, get naked, and live in the woods for weeks. Invariably, the Forrest Service comes after them. In 1987 the Rainbow People converged on Nantahala Forrest in Western North Carolina. It wasn't long before the State tried to evict them under a sanitation law that was arguably unconstitutional. The ca

296 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2002

Reviews

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this mostly because the author is a judge I'm hoping to work for when I graduate from law school. It's basically a comic memoir of a federal judge's (purely professional) interaction with a huge hippie gathering in western North Carolina in 1987. Judge Sentelle (I really just can't call him Dave, see my first sentence for why) has what I would call an old Southerner's sense of humor -- a lot of the funniest bits of the book are how he chooses to phrase things so as to get his point across without actually saying what he's trying to say. For example, when describing the state of the latrines: "There are certain necessary functions which are not like justice. We say in the law that justice should not only be done, it should be seen to be done. Certain functions which must be done should not be seen to be done." He's also very good at being both simple and funny when describing legal procedure and precedent -- great for nonlawyers. For example: "Finally, Mike got a chance to cross-examine and the Court (that's me -- whenever a judge says "the Court" he always means himself) asked some questions."

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this back in the early 2000s before my Goodreads.com days, thus I didn't write my own review. Here's a review from the 2005 May PageADay Book Lover's Calendar:

JUDGE DAVE AND THE RAINBOW PEOPLE, by David B. Sentelle (The Green Bag Press, 2002). Utopians aren’t nearly so hard to take if you can keep your sense of humor. Happily, that’s what Judge David B. Sentelle of North Carolina managed to do when he came up against a group of aging hippies who violated the law by setting up a sprawling campsite in a national park. State and federal officials wanted Judge Dave to throw the book at the hippies. The hippies wanted Judge Dave to defend what they perceived to be their exercise of freedom of speech. In a warm, witty style, Judge Dave tells the story of how he managed to remain true to the law and to his principles.

[Lesleygrossberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is outrageously hilarious. Judge Sentelle is my hero! (And not just because he let the Rainbows have their party.)