Books : The Fall of the House of Zeus: The Rise and Ruin of America's Most Powerful Trial Lawyer

The Fall of the House of Zeus: The Rise and Ruin of America's Most Powerful Trial Lawyer

View Shopping Cart or Checkout

The Fall of the House of Zeus: The Rise and Ruin of America's Most Powerful Trial Lawyer

by: Curtis Wilkie

List Price: $16.00

Amazon.com's Price: $10.88

You Save: $5.12 (32%)
as of 05/22/2012 06:25 EDT

Used Price: $4.26
Collectible Price: $300.00
Third Party New Price: $7.74

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.

Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780307460714
Edition: Reprint
ISBN: 0307460711
Item Dimensions: 8005166990
Label: Broadway
Languages: EnglishUnknownEnglishOriginal LanguageEnglishPublished
Manufacturer: Broadway
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 416
Publication Date: September 13, 2011
Publisher: Broadway
Release Date: September 13, 2011
Studio: Broadway

Related Items:

Editorial Review:

Product Description:
“Over the past four decades no reporter has critiqued the American South with such evocative sensitivity and bedrock honesty as Curtis Wilkie.”
—Douglas Brinkley

The Fall of the House of Zeus tells the story of Dickie Scruggs, arguably the most successful plaintiff's lawyer in America. A brother-in-law of Trent Lott, the former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Scruggs made a fortune taking on mass tort lawsuits against “Big Tobacco” and the asbestos industries. He was hailed by Newsweek as a latter day Robin Hood, and portrayed in the movie, The Insider, as a dapper aviator-lawyer. Scruggs’ legal triumphs rewarded him lavishly, and his success emboldened both his career maneuvering and his influence in Southern politics--but at a terrible cost, culminating in his spectacular fall, when he was convicted for conspiring to bribe a Mississippi state judge.

Here Mississippi is emblematic of the modern South, with its influx of new money and its rising professional class, including lawyers such as Scruggs, whose interests became inextricably entwined with state and national politics.

Based on extensive interviews, transcripts, and FBI recordings never made public, The Fall of the House of Zeus exposes the dark side of Southern and Washington legal games and power politics: the swirl of fixed cases, blocked investigations, judicial tampering, and a zealous prosecution that would eventually ensnare not only Scruggs but his own son, Zach, in the midst of their struggle with insurance companies over Hurricane Katrina damages. In gripping detail, Curtis Wilkie crafts an authentic legal thriller propelled by a “welter of betrayals and personal hatreds,” providing large supporting parts for Trent Lott and Jim Biden, brother of then-Senator Joe, and cameos by John McCain, Al Gore, and other DC insiders and influence peddlers.

Above all, we get to see how and why the mighty fail and fall, a story as gripping and timeless as a Greek tragedy.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: none

Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display

Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

Abraham, Adam, David, Isaac, Job, Joseph, Judith, Moses

Informative site dedictated to god, religion and ethics

The Fall of the House of Zeus: The Rise and Ruin of America's Most Powerful Trial Lawyer

The Fall of the House of Zeus: The Rise and Ruin of America's Most Powerful Trial Lawyer

Books by Joseph Ratzinger

Catholic Books

Books about Jesus

Books about Orthodoxy

Books about Mormonism

Books about Evangelism

Books about Protestantism

Books about Buddhism