Rutgers University Press has released
Battleground New Jersey: Vanderbilt, Hague, and Their Fight for Justice (Dec. 2014), by lawyer and independent scholar
Nelson Johnson. The Press explains:
New Jersey’s legal system was plagued with injustices from the time the
system was established through the mid-twentieth century. In Battleground New Jersey, historian and author of Boardwalk Empire,
Nelson Johnson chronicles reforms to the system through the dramatic
stories of Arthur T. Vanderbilt—the first chief justice of the state’s
modern-era Supreme Court—and Frank Hague—legendary mayor of Jersey City.
Two of the most powerful politicians in twentieth-century America,
Vanderbilt and Hague clashed on matters of public policy and over the
need to reform New Jersey’s antiquated and corrupt court system. Their
battles made headlines and eventually led to legal reform, transforming
New Jersey’s court system into one of the most highly regarded in
America.
Vanderbilt’s power came through
mastering the law, serving as dean of New York University Law School,
preaching court reform as president of the American Bar Association, and
organizing suburban voters before other politicians recognized their
importance. Hague, a remarkably successful sixth-grade dropout, amassed
his power by exploiting people’s foibles, crushing his rivals,
accumulating a fortune through extortion, subverting the law, and taking
care of business in his own backyard. They were different ethnically,
culturally, and temperamentally, but they shared the goals of power.
Relying
upon previously unexamined personal files of Vanderbilt, Johnson’s
engaging chronicle reveals the hatred the lawyer had for the mayor and
the lengths Vanderbilt went to in an effort to destroy Hague. Battleground New Jersey
illustrates the difficulty in adapting government to a changing world,
and the vital role of independent courts in American society.
A blurb, from Robert F. Williams, Rutgers University School of Law, Camden:
"Nelson Johnson’s new book is a must for
anyone interested not only in two of the most important New Jersey
political actors in 20th century New Jersey (including new information
on Arthur Vanderbilt) but also in the formative political events in
those years that still affect us today."
And one more--the premise of which will seem utterly unintuitive to readers of this blog:
"Johnson...disproves the theory that a book about the judiciary can't be crackling good."—New York Law Journal
More information, including the TOC, is available
here.
