From: Michigan Law Review | Date: May 1, 1995| Author: | COPYRIGHT 1995 Michigan Law Review Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

G. Edward White(1) has embraced a task of monumental proportions. A biography concentrating on either the life or the work of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. must be complex and thorough; one exploring the interaction between the two promises to be herculean. Yet White emerges victorious in the end, letting his extensive research, lucid prose, and keen insights guide the reader effortlessly through the 490-page biography.

White begins his journey with an autobiographical statement Holmes wrote as a senior at Harvard College (p. 7). The statement frames the opening chapter, "Heritage," ...