We live in an age of growing dissatisfaction with law as a career, which ironically comes at a time of unprecedented wealth for many lawyers. Dershowitz addresses this paradox, as well as the uncomfortable reality of working hard for clients who are often without many redeeming qualities. He writes about the lure of money, fame, and power, as well as about the seduction of success.

In the process, he conveys some of the "tricks of the trade" that have helped him win cases and become successful at the art and practice of "lawyering."

"The wall of separation between church and state is one of the great barriers to religious tyranny. Among the wall's most articulate defenders is Dershowitz, who shows in this readable book why the authors of our Declaration feared theocracy and favored democracy."
—Nadine Strossen, Professor of Law at New York Law School and President of the American Civil Liberties Union

"Blasphemy proves that many Christians are as deliberately bewildered about the history of our nation as they are about the evolution of life on this planet. Dershowitz has done a great service in rescuing Jefferson, Adams, and the other Founding Fathers from the religious delusions of the Christian Right. This book will strike a great blow to the forces of theocracy in the United States."
—Sam Harris, author of the New York Times bestsellers The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation

"Right wing Christian zealots don't know Thomas Jefferson from Jefferson Starship. The assertion that our Declaration of Independence is a Christian document is absurd. Colonists fled Europe to escape religious persecution, not to be controlled by a different religion. Dershowitz proves that Jefferson and his compatriots purposely built a wall between Church and State that the Religious Right is now attempting to destroy. If conservative Christians are successful at shoving God down our throats, the end of democracy as we know it will soon follow."
—U.S. Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA)

"Blasphemy is a brilliant, well-researched critique of the Religious Right's 'Christian Nation' mythology and its misuse of the American historical record. Just as significant, Professor Dershowitz illuminates the open hostility and vitriol this movement routinely exhibits toward all, religious or secular, who dare to challenge its faulty conclusions."
—Barry W. Lynn, Executive Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Max Menuchen was just 18 years old when Captain Marcelus Prandus of the Lithuanian Auxiliary Militia forced his family (and dozens of other Jewish families) into the Ponary Woods in Vilna, Lithuania, making them dig their own graves. The young man could only watch as Prandus shot his pregnant wife, Leah, and baby boy, Efraium. Escaping a similar fate by "dumb luck," Max survived the bullet, but not the torment and guilt that would haunt him for decades. Then, in 1999, Max makes the chilling discovery that Prandus escaped any punishment and now lives in a small Massachusetts town, surrounded by a loving family.

The world didn't care about what happened in the Ponary Woods. That was what was destroying Max. That was what drove him to the vengeance in which he was now engaged.

The legal mechanics of Max's trial are hardly exceptional (author Dershowitz has a tendency to slip back into his other role as Harvard law professor, and we sometimes feel more like students than readers). However, the moral implications of such a controversial trial make Just Revenge a compelling, and ultimately thought-provoking, read. --Naomi Gesinger

Dershowitz writes powerfully about his fear that, with nothing to struggle against and no powerful motivation to maintain traditions, American secular Jews will, within a few generations, lose their Jewishness. The author writes from a privileged position: raised an Orthodox Jew, he embraced secular Judaism in his young adulthood and thus comes equipped with an intimate understanding of what he has chosen to reject and accept. Though Dershowitz has no definitive answers for the problem of The Vanishing American Jew, the questions he raises may be the first step in discovering a solution.

Alan Dershowitz, the distinguished Harvard Law School professor and tireless defender of civil liberties, is passionate about many things. Finding Jefferson is his intriguing personal story of three of those passions-collecting, freedom of speech, and his idol Thomas Jefferson-and how his discovery and purchase of an important letter that had been in the possession of the recipient's family for more than 200 years brought these passions together to illuminate a pressing current issue.

Writing in the same engaging and humorous style that made Chutzpah and The Best Defense such strong sellers, Dershowitz shares his joy of collecting, which started with Brooklyn Dodger autographs, comic books, and stamps in his childhood and continues with the art, antiquities, and rare books he collects today. Dershowitz found his personal Holy Grail at an old bookstore in New York, when he came across a forgotten letter by Thomas Jefferson. The letter illuminates Jefferson's views on freedom of speech in a previously unknown way that has important implications for the country today, particularly in the struggle against terrorism. This book is about the remarkable letter Dershowitz found, how he found it, and why it matters not only to him, but to us today.

Alan Dershowitz (Cambridge, MA), the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, is one of the country's foremost appellate lawyers and a distinguished defender of individual liberties. He appears frequently on television and has contributed articles to the New York Times and other newspapers and magazines. His many book include the New York Times bestsellers The Case for Israel (0-471-67952-6) and Chutzpah (0-671-76089-0) as well as Blasphemy (0-470-08455-3), The Case for Peace (0-470-04585-X), The Best Defense (0-3945-0736-3), and Preemption: A Knife That Cuts Both Ways (0-393-06012-8).

Rights from Wrongs is the first book to propose a theory of rights that emerges not from a theory of perfect justice but from its opposite: from the bottom up, from trial and error, and from our collective experience of injustice. Human rights come from human wrongs.

"[Dershowitz's] underlying theory is one that can be neutrally applied by people residing at all positions within the political spectrum.... Perhaps if his views were understood by more people, there would be both a toning down of the political rhetoric." -Tampa Tribune

Dershowitz searches for the sources, history, and underlying reasoning that produced the Declaration and its particular language, from its reference to the "Laws of Nature and Nature's God" through the long list of complaints against the abuses of King George III. He points out contradictions within the document, notes how the meanings of Jefferson's words have changed over the centuries, and asks many disturbing questions, including: <UL> <LI>Where do rights come from? <LI>Do we have "unalienable rights"? <LI>Do rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" have any meaning? <LI>How could slaveowners claim to believe that "all men are created equal"? <LI>Is the God of the Declaration the God of the Bible? <LI>Does the Declaration establish a Christian State? <LI>Are there "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God"?

Challenging, upsetting, and controversial, this brilliant polemic may anger you, delight you, or force you to reexamine your opinions. One thing's for sure: after reading America Declares Independence, you'll never take the Declaration of Independence for granted again.

Who are Israel's most dangerous enemies? Not Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists, argues Alan Dershowitz. In this passionate and powerfully written new book, he challenges those he considers to be the most critical threat to the existence of Israel, including Jimmy Carter and other Western leaders who would delegitimize Israel as an apartheid regime subject to the same fate as white South Africans; Israel's academic enemies, led by professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, who would accuse Israel's supporters of dual loyalty--or even disloyalty--to America; certain religious groups, such as the Presbyterian Church, which would divest from Israel--and Israel alone--for its alleged human rights violations; and Iran, led by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which threatens Israel with the possible development of nuclear weapons that it has publicly warned it could use against the Jewish state.

At a time when the future existence of Israel is increasingly imperiled, Dershowitz persuasively demonstrates that these enemies of Israel are also enemies of peace, who imperil not only Israel but the rest of the world. With this book, he changes both the tone and focus of the debate about the country's adversaries. Dershowitz is at his outspoken, thought-provoking best in a book that will spark controversy and lively discussion across the entire spectrum of opinion on the Middle East.

Alan Dershowitz (Cambridge, MA), the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, is one of the country's foremost appellate lawyers and a distinguished defender of individual liberties. He appears frequently on television and has contributed articles to the New York Times and other newspapers and magazines. His many books include the New York Times bestsellers The Case for Israel (978-0-471-67952-3) and Chutzpah (978-0-671-76089-2) as well as Blasphemy (978-0-470-08455-7), The Case for Peace (978-0-470-04585-5), Preemption (978-0-393-32934-6) and Finding Jefferson (978-0-470-16711-3).

In Sexual McCarthyism, Alan Dershowitz addresses the issues that transcend mere headlines, their long-term importance and possible effects.

Denn: "Die Welt gestattete, dass Massenmörder der Justiz entkamen. Die Welt kümmerte sich nicht um das, was im Ponary-Wald geschehen war. Und genau das zerstörte Max. Genau das trieb ihn zu der Vergeltung, um die er sich gerade bemühte."

Mit einem ausgeklügelten, teuflischen Plan will Max Vergeltung üben: "für sich, seine Familie, womöglich sogar für das jüdische Volk, das keine Rache nehmen konnte". Im Mittelpunkt seines Planes steht der Enkel von Prandus, am Ende der Tod seines Peinigers. Im darauf folgenden Prozess muss Max' Anwalt und Freund Abe Ringel der Jury beweisen, dass Max' Tat auf seinem Bedürfnis nach Gerechtigkeit basierte und er somit moralisch unschuldig ist.

Alan M. Dershowitz, Rechtsprofessor in Harvard und renommierter Strafverteidiger (Anwalt von Mike Tyson und O. J. Simpson), hat einen zweiten Gerichtsroman mit seinem Alter Ego Abe Ringel geschrieben (nach Ein Spiel mit dem Teufel). In einem spektakulären Prozess sieht sich Ringel (als "Anwalt der Gerechtigkeit") -- und mit ihm die Leser -- der Frage ausgesetzt, ob es Gerechtigkeit für die Opfer der Naziverbrechen geben kann. Konkreter: Ist ein Holocaust-Überlebender berechtigt, sich an dem Peiniger zu rächen, der vor 50 Jahren seine Familie ermordete?

Dershowitz' Stärke liegt in der ungekünstelten, direkten Auseinandersetzung mit komplexen moralischen und rechtlichen Problemen. Seine große Erfahrung als Jurist spiegelt sich in der realistischen Schilderung und den Einblicken in die Eigenarten des amerikanischen Rechtssystems. Dafür verzeiht man dem Rechtsprofessor den bisweilen auffällig erhobenen Zeigefinger.

Am Ende siegt die Gerechtigkeit, die letztendlich nicht durch Rache, sondern nur durch die Versöhnung der Generationen erreicht werden kann. --Alexandra Plath