Overview

Ten Great American Trials provides chapter-length accounts of some of the most highly publicized and fascinating court cases of the twentieth century. Each narrative contains an analysis of prosecutors' and defense attorneys' use of trial advocacy techniques (involving discovery, pre-trial motions, jury selection, direct testimony, cross-examination, the introduction of forensic exhibits, and summations) to craft compelling stories about what happened. The book also assesses the impact of cultural, social, and political values on the proceedings and the outcomes. The cases, several of which have been dubbed ""the crime of the century,"" were selected because they are dramatic, suspenseful, emotional, intellectually powerful, and have become part of American culture. Uncertainty about motives, guilt or innocence, it is worth noting, still haunt several of thesetrials. And every one of the cases has inspired a full length movie, a television series, and/or a documentary. All ten trials shed light on one or more ""hot button"" issues: xenophobia, the death penalty, race, anti-communism, free speech rights, homosexuality, and child abuse. The trials covered are: Sacco and Vanzetti Leopold and Loeb The Scottsboro Boys United States v. Alger Hiss The Village of Skokie v. The National Socialist Party of America Dan White (the killer of Harvey Milk and George Moscone, the mayor of San Francisco) Claus von Blow The McMartin Preschool Sexual Abuse Case O. J. Simpson

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9781634255929

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Glenn Altschuler received his PhD in American History from Cornell in 1976 and has been an administrator and teacher at the university since 1981. He has served as dean of the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions since 1991. While dean he has continued to do research and teaching. His year-long survey of Popular Culture in the United States, 1900-Present is one of the most popular courses at Cornell. Professor Altschuler has been an animating force in the American Studies Program and has been a strong advocate on campus for high-quality teaching and advising. In 1998, he became the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies. In 2006, he was named a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, Cornell's most prestigious award for undergraduate teaching. From 2009 to 2013, Professor Altschuler also served as vice president for university relations, with responsibilities for articulating and overseeing strategies related to communications, government relations, and land grant affairs. Faust F. Rossi is a national authority on evidence and trial advocacy. A 1960 graduate of Cornell Law School, Professor Rossi began his legal career as a trial attorney in the United States Department of Justice Honors Program. He subsequently became a litigation partner in a Rochester law firm and then joined the Cornell Law School Faculty in 1966. He retired in 2013. Professor Rossi is the author of a text on expert witnesses and coauthor of the Handbook of New York Evidence. He was a national winner of the Roscoe Pound Jacobson Award for excellence in teaching Trial Advocacy. Professor Rossi was a recurring visiting professor at Central European University in Budapest and a regular faculty member in the Cornell Summer Institute of International and Comparative Law in Paris. He has also given hundreds of lectures to lawyers and judges in the United States and Europe.

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