New York Yankees v. Major League Baseball; General Westmoreland v. CBS; FDIC v. Michael Milken; United States v. Microsoft; Bush v. Gore. In each of these landmark cases, one man, David Boies, has held center stage. Dubbed by the New York Times "the lawyer everyone wants," Boies has indeed been courted by government and major corporations alike, and by a host of the famous and powerful. His clients have included Calvin Klein; Don Imus; George Steinbrenner; and Garry Shandling, as well as companies such as DuPont; Altria; Lloyd's of London; and American Express. He has won record-breaking damages for consumers in cases against Sotheby's and Christie's and from major pharmaceutical companies worldwide, for price-fixing. His combination of legal know-how, meticulous preparation, and high-risk tactics at trial has earned him the sobriquet "the Michael Jordan of the courtroom." Written in the straightforward, sympathetic style that characterizes his courtroom presence, Courting Justice examines the varied clientele, behind-the-scenes dramas, and eleventh-hour strategies that have catapulted Boies to the top of the legal profession. His memoir ranges from his now-famous deposition of Bill Gates to the media-saturated battles of defending Vice President Al Gore during the 2000 Florida recount frenzy. when for days on end it was this one laconic nonpolitician who was asked to explain to the American people how their president was being decided. Through gripping accounts of some of his most notable cases, Boies brings to life not only his high-profile battles in and out of court but the details of his own life, from an unassuming boyhood in small-town Illinois and adolescence on the streets of Compton, to his brief career as a cardsharp (which helped hone his photographic memory), his lifelong fight with dyslexia and the lessons he learned in law schoolsone of which he was asked to leave. Inspiring, revealing, and compulsively readable, Courting Justice is an insider's look at the American legal system, highlighting both its strengths and its weaknesses, the ways it can be abused and the ways in which, at its best, it defends our liberties.

The ungentle laws and customs touched upon in this tale arehistorical, and the episodes which are used to illustrate themare also historical. It is not pretended that these laws andcustoms existed in England in the sixth century; no, it is onlypretended that inasmuch as they existed in the English and othercivilizations of far later times, it is safe to consider that it isno libel upon the sixth century to suppose them to have been inpractice in that day also. One is quite justified in inferringthat whatever one of these laws or customs was lacking in thatremote time, its place was competently filled by a worse one

Romance, burlesque, and tragedy are ingeniously mixed in a wildly imaginative tale about a down-to-earth, inventive Yankee who suddenly finds himself in King Arthur's court. Critical reaction was harsh, the book being called "coarse ... a vulgar travesty." In an attempt to counteract this reception, in 1889 Clemens wrote for help to Andrew Lang, an admirer. "I have been misjudged," he said. "Help me, Mr. Lang; no voice can reach further than yours in a case of this kind, or carry greater weight of authority." Lang replied with an article, "The Art of Mark Twain," which appeared in the Illustrated London News. After confessing that he had not cared to read the Yankee, he proceeded to devote the rest of the article to the glorification of Huckleberry Finn. (From "A Centennial For Tom Sawyer")

TRAVEL BACK IN TIME WITH MARK TWAIN’S CLASSIC NOVEL Written by Mark Twain in 1889, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court tells the story of Hank Morgan, the quintessential self-reliant New Englander, a 19th-century engineer from Connecticut. After a severe blow to the head, Hank awakens to find himself inexplicably transported back in time and space to early medieval England during the reign of King Arthur. After a bit of confusion and his capture by one of King Arthur’s knights, Hank realizes where he is and uses his technological knowledge to fool people into believing that he is a powerful magician. He becomes a rival of Merlin, who appears to be a fraud next to him, and gains the trust of King Arthur. Hank tries to make people’s lives better by attempting to modernize the past. He is disgusted at the way the Barons treat the common people and tries to implement democratic ideas and reforms but is unable to change things and prevent the death of King Arthur. Twain wrote the book as a caricature of the romantic notions of chivalry and a satire of servitude and sovereignty. He celebrates plain and simple ingenuity as well as democratic values. Through this story where the past and present collide, Twain exposes the fragility of both utopias, destroying the myth of the romantic ideal as well as his own era’s faith in scientific and social progress. “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus”