Book Reviews
This Month's Featured Selections
Harvest of Rage: Why Oklahoma City Is Only
the Beginning
By Joel Dyer. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997. 292 pgs.
Hardcover. Retail: $24.
Reviewed by Brian H. Zygo
When
I heard about the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, my
first reaction was the same as many others; I figured it was the work of
foreign terrorists. The notion that this act of terrorism could have
been the work of U.S. citizens who subscribed to antigovernment ideology
did not occur to me until I was sitting in Austin's typical afternoon
traffic gridlock listening to a radio talk show. One of the callers
mentioned that it was the second anniversary of the fire at the Branch
Davidian compound in Waco. With the arrest of Timothy McVeigh, it became
clear that this bombing was an act of protest against the government for
its actions in Waco, and the media quickly focused their cameras on the
various antigovernment groups scattered all over the country.
During the months following the bombing, the media was full of
stories about antigovernment groups and their leaders. These reports
usually depicted the members of the antigovernment groups as poorly
educated rural people who liked to play with guns; in other words they
really weren't people to be taken seriously. This is an image Joel Dyer
attempts to refute in his well-researched and well-written book,
Harvest of Rage. Although he interviewed and quoted many of the
leaders of the antigovernment movement, this book is not really about
them: It is about the people who make up the bulk of the membership in
the antigovernment groups, and why they have found the antigovernment
messages so appealing.
According to Dyer, the majority of the rank and file in the
antigovernment movement are refugees from the farm crisis that plagued
rural America during the 1980s. In the book's first section, Dyer uses
suicide statistics, true stories, and interviews with rural Americans
and rural psychologists to detail the suffering, despair, and stress
that were infecting America's heartland. In addition, this section of
the book details how the actions of the Federal Reserve and the
consolidation of large agricultural companies were major factors in
causing the foreclosure of successful family farms.
During the late 1970s, many farmers listened to the experts who told
them they had to get big or get out, so they took out loans to increase
their operations. But when the Federal Reserve took a hard line on
inflation, the banks called in the loans and farm foreclosures became a
common occurrence. Losing the family farm means losing the family's
history and letting down the forefathers who planted that first crop, so
it's understandable that many of the farmers who lost their farms were
desperate for help and ideas that would get their farms back. The
government provided no hope on this front, but antigovernment groups
held meetings detailing ways to use everything from the Magna Carta to
strict interpretations of the U.S. Constitution to the Uniform
Commercial Code in getting the farms back and getting damages from the
bankers and officials believed to be responsible for the
foreclosures.
The picture Dyer paints of the farm crisis is convincing enough to
get almost anyone mad at the government for its role in this tragedy.
But this does not mean that Dyer supports the antigovernment groups.
Dyer does an excellent job detailing many of the basic conspiracy and
religious theories that underlie the ideology of many antigovernment
groups, but he also points out that there are many variations on these
theories and disagreements among the groups. Unfortunately, groups with
differing theories and methods are putting aside their differences and
forming alliances when it comes to recruiting and broadcasting their
antigovernment messages.
In the discussion of these conspiracy theories, Dyer reveals the many
fallacies contained in them. However, Dyer also points out that the
theories contain grains of truth upon which the rest of the theory is
built, and the grains of truth in these theories often are parts of the
root causes of the economic hardships that have driven many rural
Americans to seek help and hope from antigovernment groups.
In the end, Dyer paints a bleak picture - his visits with members of
various antigovernment groups have led him to believe that many of these
rank and file members, once law-abiding and peace-loving farmers, are
becoming more and more comfortable with the notion of violence as a
proper means for achieving their goals. Dyer believes the government
should recognize the economic problems in rural America and take steps
to provide an alternative source of help and hope an alternative
that steers people clear of the antigovernment recruiters. However, Dyer
fears that the government is ignoring what is occurring in these rural
communities, and its policies in dealing with antigovernment groups and
members are making matters worse. If this situation continues then Dyer
believes that many antigovernment groups will stop clogging courts with
paper and turn to violent acts, and possibly start carrying out the many
death sentences that have been issued by various common law courts.
Brian H. Zygo, Austin 1997, holds a B.A.
in History and Environmental Studies from Baylor University, located in
Waco, Texas. He is a staff attorney in Wisconsin Judicare Inc.'s Indian
Law Office, Wausau.
Estate & Elder Law Advisor: The
Integrated Practice Tool
for Estate & Elder Law Practitioners
Eagan, MN: Clark Boardman Callaghan, a West Group division, 1997.
Package with two disks updated quarterly, $1,495. With added option of
Koren, Estate & Personal Finance Planning on CD-ROM, $2,045. To
order, call (800) 890-5558.
Reviewed by Danielle Baerwald
The Estate and Elder Law Advisor is an electronic research
tool that assists navigating through the estate and elder law available
on this set of two CD-ROMs. I found this software to be somewhat
user-friendly, although it is a little tricky to install and run if you
have any background software running, such as a virus or crash
protection program. If you do not run Advisor alone you will
get an "illegal operation" message from which you cannot recover.
Technical support (readily available) advised shutting down all other
programs, after which I did not experience any other system freezes.
Once past the software conflict problem, Advisor runs very
well, with many intuitive and familiar features. Advisor
provides comprehensive primary and secondary materials including estate
and elder case law; state and federal statutes, regulations, and
policies; and estate, health, and income planning forms. The forms
section is somewhat disappointing. Other estate planning programs or
document merge systems create forms more effectively. The only other
drawback I found was the discussion of Wisconsin's marital property law.
It is better to use the State Bar CLE books for these issues.
The strength of Advisor is in how easy it is to do research.
There basically are two ways to conduct research. An interactive
research guide uses an interview format to guide you to the analytical
discussion of your topic. From that discussion, you can jump from most
citations right to the full text of the case, statute, regulation, and
so on, and back again. This seems like a good way to conduct research if
you have no idea what you are looking for, but it can be frustrating if
you know your topic. Directly searching the resources on these disks is
very easy: select the books to search (multiple databases allowed), type
in a search request, and view the hits. The number of hits is readily
viewed and moving between the hits is easy.
Overall, this is a very good collective reference source. Although
this information could be found elsewhere, having it in one place is
convenient. But this convenience comes at a price. The Advisor
is not cheap and there are monthly maintenance costs to stay current.
The cost of this research tool must be weighed against the amount of use
and convenience it will provide to your firm.
Danielle Baerwald, Marquette 1990, is a
solo practitioner in Milwaukee, working primarily in estate planning and
probate.
Promoting the Adoption of Children: What
Lawyers Can Do
Washington, D.C.: ABA Steering Committee on the Unmet Legal Needs
of Children, 1997. Booklet. 36 pgs. $5. To order, call (202)
662-1675.
Reviewed by Theresa L. Schulz
Promoting the Adoption of Children: What Lawyers Can Do is a
special publication of the American Bar Association Steering Committee
on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children. This booklet is one of a series of
publications aimed at encouraging more lawyers to help children and
families on a pro bono basis by suggesting particular projects in which
lawyers can become involved. The pamphlet provides guidelines on
planning and establishing pro bono projects to address the urgent needs
of children caught in today's slow-moving foster care system. First, the
pamphlet provides general ideas on recruiting and training volunteer
attorneys, staffing the pro bono programs, obtaining clients, seeking
funding, and securing malpractice insurance for volunteer attorneys.
The pamphlet then addresses various substantive roles that lawyers
can serve in the adoption process. Each chapter addresses a different
role, describes the duties of the attorney in that role, and offers
suggestions to pro bono program coordinators about obtaining clients for
the pro bono services, and recruiting attorneys to provide the pro bono
services. The pamphlet details the following important roles that
attorneys can serve: representing prospective adoptive parents,
representing biological parents, and representing children. The pamphlet
also addresses ways lawyers can positively impact the adoption process
through court improvement projects, developing adoption awareness
programs, providing training to volunteer attorneys, and establishing
adoption benefits for their own employees.
Theresa L. Schulz, Minnesota 1993,
practices employment and adoption law in Wisconsin and Minnesota from
her office in Lake Elmo, Minn.
Tools of the Trade: Practical Legal Writing
for the 21st Century
Jeffrey M. Ellinport. Bethesda, Md: Austin & Winfield, 1997.
248 pgs. Softcover. Retail: $29.95.
Reviewed by Richard Berkley
The publisher's cover notes state that this book is designed for use
in the classroom, office, or by the independent reader. However, the
author states the book aims at a far simpler goal: making newly
graduated lawyers immediately productive in a civil practice. Although
both are sweeping claims, Ellinport's book is a good effort.
Ellinport begins Tools of the Trade with an anecdote from
his first day as a junior associate. A partner asked him to write a
demand letter because a client was owed a great deal of money. At that
moment, Ellinport notes, he realized that law school had taught him
legal theory, substantive legal knowledge, and how to write an appellate
brief or a legal memorandum. But law school had not taught him how to
write the bread-and-butter documents of a civil law practice. Thus, a
partner told Ellinport he was "useless" for the first few months he
worked for the firm. This book is Ellinport's attempt to keep other new
associates from being "useless."
The book's structure is quite simple. It is divided into 12 chapters
in which Ellinport attempts to replicate the characteristic documents a
lawyer probably would create while handling business for a client. Each
chapter contains a brief preface of what stage the representation is at
and what documents are necessary. For example, Ellinport's first
substantive chapter begins by discussing why clearly written retainer
and fee agreements should be sent to a prospective client immediately
after the first meeting. Then, the remainder of the chapter contains
several sample retainer agreements and assorted fee agreements. Each
subsequent chapter follows this general format.
The book contains chapters on client correspondence, demand letters,
notice letters, complaints, answers, discovery documents, motions,
praecipes, settlement offers and letters, and client billing letters.
Each chapter is preceded by a brief explanation of the principal forms
presented in the chapter, and how and why a lawyer would use them. A
series of exercises is included to challenge readers to practice
creating their own versions of the studied documents.
Ellinport's book is aimed at junior associates, fledgling solo
practitioners, and law students. For them, it will be quite useful. It
probably is not useful for seasoned lawyers unless they are switching
from some other form of practice into civil practice, or if they have
forgotten some of the basics they learned when they first began
practicing law.
Richard Berkley, U.W. 1997, also has an
M.A. in Public History from N.Y.U.
Wisconsin Lawyer
