Related Subjects: Author Index
Book reviews for "Berry,_John_Stevens" sorted by average review score:

Those Gallant Men: On Trial in Vietnam
Published in Hardcover by Presidio Pr (May, 1984)
Author: John Stevens Berry
Amazon base price: $1.98
Used price: $1.07
Collectible price: $15.88
Average review score:

Zealous and creative defense lawyering at its best.
This book examines court-martial charges filed against unlikely defendants - a group of professional and dedicated Green Berets during the Vietnam War. The first part of the book profiles the defense counsel. The second, the legal maneuvering for the courts-martial. The author, one of those Defense Counsel, adroitly portrays the frustrations, fears and foibles associated with defending a professional soldier on murder charges. Some might and did say that the victim - a North Vietnamese double agent - deserved to die, afterall this was war and GI's were dying in droves. The intensity of command and prosecution efforts to "break" the defendants, where evidence was weak and circumstantial at best, was shamefull. Berry's ability to capture the feelings that every defense counsel knows, is uncanny. He coins the memorable phrase, "Black Robe Fever" to describe the intellectual regression trial attorneys who become judges go through upon assuming the Bench. Famous personalities appear, the Press gets excited, and yet, who remembers this case? The verdict (you'll have to read the book) spawned the title, "Those Gallant Men" refers equally to the courageous Defense counsel, as well as their clients.


Related Subjects: Author Index

Reviews are from readers at Amazon.com. To add a review, follow the Amazon buy link above.