Description

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In 1917 a bomb exploded in a Milwaukee police station, killing nine officers and a civilian. Days later, a trial began for eleven Italian immigrants who had already been in jail for months for an unrelated riot. The specter of the bombing, for which no one had been arrested, haunted the proceedings. Against the backdrop of World War I and amid a prevailing hatred and fear of radical immigrants and anarchists, the Italians had an unfair trial. Famed attorney Clarence Darrow led an appeal that gained freedom for most of the convicted, but his own methods were deeply suspect. The entire case left a dark, though largely forgotten, stain on American justice.

About the Author

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Dean A. Strang is a criminal defense lawyer in Madison, Wisconsin, and an adjunct professor at the law schools of the University of Wisconsin and Marquette University.

Praise For…

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“Sheds crucial insights into the failings of our legal system and the hazards of succumbing to mass hysteria against immigrants and alleged terrorists. It provides urgent lessons for us all.”—Matthew Rothschild, past editor of The Progressive

“The dramatic case of the Bay View Eleven, a group of Italian immigrants arrested after a Milwaukee riot in 1917. . . . [Strang] analyzes how their trial, coming on the heels of a police station bombing, was grossly mismanaged and sensationalized.”—Publishers Weekly

“Vividly depicts [Clarence Darrow’s] strengths and foibles. The reader truly understands why Darrow’s involvement in the Milwaukee bombing defendants’ appeal arrived at a pivotal period.”—New Republic

“No one asked for this story. It simply begged to be told. . . . Strang’s impulse to tell a representative, rather than a unique, story has a chilling power he could not have anticipated.”—Partisan

“A riveting account of a miscarriage of justice relevant to our times, when fear of radicals of a different stripe may infect our system of justice.”—Booklist