Synopses & Reviews
“Fascinating....Loaded with perceptive and provocative comments on Shakespeares plots, characters, and contemporary analogs.”
—Justice John Paul Stevens, Supreme Court of the United States
“Kenji Yoshino is the face and the voice of the new civil rights.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickled and Dimed
A Thousand Times More Fair is a highly inventive and provocative exploration of ethics and the law that uses the plays of William Shakespeare as a prism through which to view the nature of justice in our contemporary lives. Celebrated law professor and author Kenji Yoshino delves into ten of the most important works of the Immortal Bard of Avon, offering prescient and thought-provoking discussions of lawyers, property rights, vengeance (legal and otherwise), and restitution that have tremendous significance to the defining events of our times—from the O.J. Simpson trial to Abu Ghraib. Anyone fascinated by important legal and social issues—as well as fans of Shakespeare-centered bestsellers like Will in the World—will find A Thousand Times More Fair an exceptionally rewarding reading experience.
Review
“[An] insightful inquiry into the contemporary relevance of the Bards vision of justice. . . . A refreshing reminder that questions of justice may lead to dramatic poetry, not legal jargon.” Booklist (starred review)
Review
“[W]ell-informed by scholarship, nuanced and appealingly written. . . . [P]erhaps the most enlightening study of the subject to appear in a century.” Charlotte Observer
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“A remarkably imaginative and scholarly work. It reminds us that in Shakespeares time, like our own, the law and ideas of justice were in flux.” California Lawyer
Review
“Kenji Yoshino brings to his lively reading of the plays the full force of his passionate brooding on issues of justice in contemporary society. A THOUSAND TIMES MORE FAIR will appeal to anyone interested in the uses of great art to reflect on some of our cultures most vexing problems.” Stephen Greenblatt, author of WILL IN THE WORLD
Review
“The ingenious and well-argued premise of Kenji Yoshinos new book is that justice in a form that we can understand and relate to modern concepts of legal justice is a pervasive theme of Shakespearean drama. . . . Shakespeare, in law as in so much else, remains our contemporary.” Judge Richard A. Posner
Review
“A sensitive and lively mind work[s] its way through the legal themes in some of the most beautiful passages in English literature.” New Republic
Review
“Neither a prosecutor nor a defense lawyer herein, Yoshino is a refreshingly engaging advocate for Shakespeare.” Newark Star Ledger
Review
“In the enlightening and readable A Thousand Times More Fair, author Kenji Yoshino opens a window on Shakespearean dramaturgy and scholarship and lets in a breath of fresh air.” New York Journal of Books
Review
“Readers will find Yoshino provocative, often controversial, and Shakespeare, as always, entertaining.” Publishers Weekly
Review
“Who knew that there was such a brilliant and fresh reading of Shakespeare waiting to be discovered? Only Kenji Yoshino, with a poets ear for language and a lawyers passion for justice, could have done it.” Carol Gilligan, University Professor, NYU
Review
“Fascinating. . . . Loaded with perceptive and provocative comments on Shakespeares plots, characters, and contemporary analogs.” Justice John Paul Stevens, Supreme Court of the United States
Review
“Until Kenji Yoshinos book, I had found little of value in ‘Law and Literature studies. He redeems the mode. Shakespeare, most capacious of souls, is shown by Yoshino to illuminate the vast and complex structures that must inform the role of law in our struggle for a just society.” Harold Bloom, author of SHAKESPEARE: THE INVENTION OF THE HUMAN
Synopsis
Celebrated legal scholar Kenji Yoshino's first book,
Covering, was acclaimed—from the
New York Times Book Review to
O, The Oprah Magazine to the
American Lawyer—for its elegant prose, its good humor, and its brilliant insights into civil rights and discrimination law. Now, in
A Thousand Times More Fair, Yoshino turns his attention to the question of what makes a fair and just society, and delves deep into a surprising source to answer it: Shakespeare's greatest plays. Through fresh and insightful readings of
Measure for Measure,
Titus Andronicus,
Othello, and others, he addresses the fundamental questions we ask about our world today and elucidates some of the most troubling issues in contemporary life.
Enormously creative, engaging, and provocative, A Thousand Times More Fair is an altogether original book about Shakespeare and the law, and an ideal starting point to explore the nature of a just society-and our own.
About the Author
Kenji Yoshino is the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law. Prior to that appointment, he was the Deputy Dean of Intellectual Life at Yale Law School. He has written for the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, and he is the author of the award-winning memoir Covering. He lives in New York City.