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Humor of a Country Lawyer
Originally published in 1984, Senator Ervin's delightful collection of stories and anecdotes winds its way from his native Morganton through Chapel Hill and Harvard, the military, the North Carolina Supreme Court, the United States Senate, and Watergate. It represents a lifetime of wit and wisdom--told in the late Senator Ervin's inimitable style.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
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April 28, 2015
Found this in a thrift store and thought it might be an easy good read. I was correct.
Sam Ervin was best known as the chairman of the Senate Committee that investigated the Watergate break in that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon. But he was also known to be a country lawyer with a country lawyer's portfolio of stories.
This book was organized to coincide with biographical epochs throughout Ervin's life. It is a testament to North Carolina and a bygone era. To learn how politics (especially southern Democrats) and government and courts used to be, if nothing else, makes this book worth reading. That it has numerous humorous stories from Ervin's life makes it a very good read.
From going through Harvard Law School backward (third year, then second, then first) to having a listed phone number during the Watergate hearings (and the story of a Kentucky preacher who would call daily to inform Ervin what God was telling the preacher to tell Ervin) the book is an easy and a very good read.
The only reason I didn't give it a five was that its last chapter was about Watergate. There were only a couple of humorous stories in the chapter, most of it recounting some of the history of that tumultuous time from the perspective of this central figure. It was interesting, but out of character with the rest of the book. It merits its own book (I'd like to read "The Whole Truth: The Watergate Conspiracy" by Ervin) and even if shorter would have been better to keep the book to humor.
Sam Ervin was best known as the chairman of the Senate Committee that investigated the Watergate break in that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon. But he was also known to be a country lawyer with a country lawyer's portfolio of stories.
This book was organized to coincide with biographical epochs throughout Ervin's life. It is a testament to North Carolina and a bygone era. To learn how politics (especially southern Democrats) and government and courts used to be, if nothing else, makes this book worth reading. That it has numerous humorous stories from Ervin's life makes it a very good read.
From going through Harvard Law School backward (third year, then second, then first) to having a listed phone number during the Watergate hearings (and the story of a Kentucky preacher who would call daily to inform Ervin what God was telling the preacher to tell Ervin) the book is an easy and a very good read.
The only reason I didn't give it a five was that its last chapter was about Watergate. There were only a couple of humorous stories in the chapter, most of it recounting some of the history of that tumultuous time from the perspective of this central figure. It was interesting, but out of character with the rest of the book. It merits its own book (I'd like to read "The Whole Truth: The Watergate Conspiracy" by Ervin) and even if shorter would have been better to keep the book to humor.
Displaying 1 of 1 review