Judging Jehovah's Witnesses Religious Persecution and the Dawn of the Rights Revolution Shawn Francis Peters New in Paperback: February 2002 April 2000 352 pages, 24 photographs, 6 x 9 Paper ISBN 978-0-7006-1182-9, $17.95 WINNER OF THE SCRIBES AWARD GIVEN BY THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF WRITERS ON LEGAL SUBJECTS FINALIST, SILVER GAVEL AWARD, AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD NOTABLE BOOK IN RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY WINNER OF THE WISCONSIN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION's OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD While millions of Americans were defending liberty against the Nazis, liberty was under vicious attack at home. One of the worst outbreaks of religious persecution in U.S. history occurred during World War II when Jehovah's Witnesses were intimidated, beaten, and even imprisoned for refusing to salute the flag or serve in the armed forces. Determined to claim their First Amendment rights, Jehovah's Witnesses waged a tenacious legal campaign that led to twenty-three Supreme Court rulings between 1938 and 1946. Now Shawn Peters has written the first complete account of the personalities, events, and institutions behind those cases, showing that they were more than vindication for unpopular beliefs--they were also a turning point in the nation's constitutional commitment to individual rights. Peters begins with the story of Walter Gobitas, a Jehovah's Witness whose children refused to salute the flag at school. He follows this famous case to the Supreme Court where he captures the intellectual sparring between Justices Frankfurter and Stone over individual liberties; then he describes the aftermath of the Court's ruling against Gobitas when angry mobs savagely assaulted Jehovah's Witnesses in hundreds of communities across America. Judging Jehovah's Witnesses tells how persecution--much of it directed by members of patriotic organizations like the American Legion--touched the lives of Witnesses of all ages; why the Justice Department and state officials ignored the Witnesses' pleas for relief; and how the ACLU and liberal clergymen finally stepped forward to help them. Drawing on interviews with Witnesses and extensive research in ACLU archives, Peters examines the strategies that beleaguered Witnesses used to combat discrimination and goes beyond the familiar Supreme Court rulings by analyzing more obscure lower court decisions as well. By vigorously pursuing their cause, the Witnesses helped to inaugurate an era in which individual and minority rights emerged as matters of concern for the Supreme Court and foreshadowed events in the civil rights movement. Like the classics Gideon's Trumpet and Simple Justice, Judging Jehovah's Witnesses vividly narrates a moving human drama while reminding us of the true meaning of our Constitution and the rights it protects. "Peters successfully uses the Witnesses' simple but eloquent voices to tell a remarkable story that lays bare the extremes of cowardice and courage so often found in nations engrossed by war."--American Historical Review "The stories of persecution are horrendous, and Peters tells them with sympathy and remarkable attention to detail and context."--Journal of American History "With a journalistic eye, Peters presents the convergence of nationalistic paranoia, the distrust that erupted into violence, and palpable religious bigotry against the Jehovah's Witnesses during the 1930s and 1940s. . . .This legal history, in the vein of Harold Berman's Law and Revolution, tells us as much about the intricacies of jurisprudence as it does our own shameful past. This engrossing study depends primarily on firsthand testimony, ACLU documents, and legal briefs. . . .Chock-full of primary resources, this is recommended reading for American and religious historians as well as for those interested in the history of persecution."--Library Journal "A vivid depiction of the hysterical and brutal suppression of the Witnesses during the 1930s and 1940s and how their legal resistance transformed the civil liberties of all Americans. A story of cowardice and courage, well told."--Norman Dorsen, Stokes Professor, NYU, and president, ACLU 1976–1991 "A marvelous and long-needed book."--Nat Hentoff, author of Living the Bill of Rights "An excellent and refreshing reminder that not a single legal doctrine matters at all except as it comes to bear on the lives of flesh-and-blood people."--Kenneth Karst, author of Belonging to America "A fine work. Thoroughly researched, smoothly written, and a genuine pleasure to read."--Tinsley Yarbrough, author of Judicial Enigma: The First Justice Harlan SHAWN FRANCIS PETERS has taught writing and rhetoric at the universities of New Hampshire and Iowa and is currently with the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.   Home | About the Press | Recent Awards | Contact Us | Order New Books: | By Author | By Subject | By Title | By Series Books in Print: | By Author | By Subject | By Title | By Series ©2007 University Press of Kansas 2502 Westbrooke Circle, Lawrence, KS 66045-4444 Phone (785) 864-4155; Fax (785) 864-4586