On the opening page of this comprehensive biography, John Minor Wisdom emerges as “scrupulously fair-minded”; a “civil rights champion”; “the prime architect of a revitalized Republican Party”; and “the universally acclaimed author of tradition-shattering and precedent-making judicial opinions that would forever reshape the contours of civil liberties in the United States” (1). Author Joel Friedman adheres to these themes throughout the book, as he traces this judicial virtuoso from his privileged upbringing in New Orleans, through his brazen attempts to reconfigure Louisiana's Republican Party, and finally to his forty-plus years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

For those intrigued by Wisdom the man, Friedman offers many small treasures—a detailed account of Wisdom's family tree (which included Virginia Louise Minor, the famous voting rights pioneer, and Judah P. Benjamin, the “Brains of the Confederacy”); glimpses of elite New Orleans society (Wisdom joined several prestigious Carnival “krewes”); and anecdotes about his fastidious working habits. For those interested in party politics, this book will also fascinate. Having witnessed Governor Huey Long run roughshod over the state (and after personally incurring Long's wrath), Wisdom resolved to craft a viable opposition party. Friedman's account of what followed has the thrill of an underdog story and includes a behind-the-scenes narrative of the dramatic 1952 Republican National Convention.

This book holds the most promise, however, for readers interested in Wisdom's efforts to implement the mandate of Brown v. Board in decidedly hostile territory (his court had jurisdiction over much of the Deep South). This story has been told before, but never with the benefit, as Friedman had, of unrestricted access to Wisdom's voluminous papers. The resulting chapters give Wisdom's perspective on his most famous cases, including the controversy over James Meredith's admission to Ole Miss; the powerful desegregation decision U.S. v. Jefferson County Board of Education; and the important voting rights case U.S. v. Louisiana. Owing to Friedman's clear explanations, readers not trained in law will find this material interesting and accessible. Readers with a legal background will appreciate Friedman's asides about the effect of Wisdom's decisions on other areas of law, such as affirmative action, employment discrimination, and product liability.

The final chapters of the book will likely hold less interest for those who are not avid court-watchers. One chapter covers a series of cases that, while doctrinally significant, Friedman fails to make meaningful for those unfamiliar with the context. (Wisdom's dissent in a 1972 case about restrictions on a schoolboy's hairstyle, for example, seems trivial absent a discussion of the cultural significance of long hair.) Another chapter details Wisdom's battle to prevent the Fifth Circuit from being split in two. The reverent epilogue catalogues the honors Wisdom received in his later years.

This ending fits, given the lifetime of accomplishments Friedman describes, but it also epitomizes a weakness of this engaging work. While Wisdom deserves acclaim, Friedman's admiring descriptions of the judge at times raise more questions than Friedman has answers. For example, if Wisdom indeed possessed an “unbending commitment to fairness” (118), “unwavering commitment to preserving … civil rights” (145), and “uncompromising insistence upon enforcing the rule of law” (199), why (other than being “brainwashed” by his professors at Tulane Law School [129]) did he vote to uphold blatantly racist gerrymandering (Gomillion v. Lightfoot)? Why did he approve school desegregation plans that he knew would fulfill Brown's mandate less “cleanly and quickly” than alternatives (191)? Friedman's report of Wisdom's “deep-seated revulsion” to the whites-only policy of three New Orleans hotels (242) prompts similar questions, considering Wisdom's “steadfast refusal to resign from several racially and religiously restrictive private clubs” (237–38). Ironically, in glossing over these discrepancies in favor of almost unqualified praise, Friedman loses an opportunity to prove how remarkable Wisdom was. A judge whose “innate sense of fairness” (145) dictates his course in complicated civil rights cases has it easy. Much harder is the task of a judge who is “at his core, a pragmatist” (115) and by birth an elite southern white male, but who believes in “honestly adher[ing] to the rule of law irrespective of its consequences” (145).

Ultimately this book reaffirms Wisdom as an important historical figure, but not, perhaps, for the reasons Friedman offers. Wisdom merits further study not because he always produced the “right” answer, but because he usually came out on the right side of history. He was in tune with the political and ideological currents of his day, and had a knack for tapping into Americans' best instincts. Faced with some of the most difficult issues ever to confront the U.S. judiciary, he consistently fashioned decisions that seemed at once sensible and moral, that respected the past without mortgaging the future, and that draped themselves in “law” while effectuating policies that helped reconcile the country to changing power structures, mores, and imperatives.