“Professor Steven Brown sets out to rehabilitate McKinley's reputation and historical legacy in this engaging and accessible biography. The portrait that emerges is one of a dedicated public servant and thoughtful jurist, a far cry from the surly and unimpressive caricature that has defined McKinley's modern-day perception. . . . [Brown] also provides a rare look into the workings of the antebellum Supreme Court, particularly the travails of circuit riding prior to the development of a robust interstate transportation infrastructure. . . . Brown persuasively argues that McKinley's career and legacy deserve another look.”—Harvard Law Review
“Steven Brown's splendid new work is the only book-length account of the Alabama Justice's life and years of public service--not only as a Justice, but as a practicing attouney, state legislator, state university trustee, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and U.S. Senator. The book refutes the usual assessment that McKinley was at best a very average jurist who failed to carry his share of the judicial burden and was unable to hold his own among his judicial colleagues.”—Journal of Supreme Court History
“Students of southern history and Alabama history, as well as legal scholars and the state and national legal communities, will appreciate this longoverdue revision of Justice John McKinley’s historical reputation. With this book, Steven Brown has established himself as the authority on the life and times of Justice McKinley and, to a significant degree, the antebellum US Supreme Court.”—R. Volney Riser, author of Defying Disfranchisement: Black Voting Rights Activism in the Jim Crow South, 1890–1908
