KF373 .H29 G76 1994 (VJH)

Scholarly biography of one of the most influential judges never to serve on the Supreme Court. Hand knew all kinds of notables: William James and George Santayana (his profs at Harvard) to Teddy Roosevelt (a friend from the Progressive-Bull Moose Party) and Felix Frankfurter (a correspondent for decades). ( )

2698 Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge, by Gerald Gunther (read 22 Jan 1995) This is a superlative biography of Hand (born Jan 27, 1872 in Albany, N. Y., appointed a Federal District Judge in 1909, elevated to the Second Circuit in 1924, died in New York City on Aug 18, 1961) by Gunther, who clerked for Hand in the earlier 1950's and was a Con Law professor at Stanford. I found this a fascinating book, even though I obviously have disagreement with Hand's agnosticism. He was not really a very successful lawyer, but he was sheerly brilliant in his mind and as a judge. This book would have been fun to read in a law library, since it gives lots of citations which if one had read them as one went along would have made the book even more enjoyable. I doubt I have ever read a better biography of a judge. ( )