Guilty Men 1957

Finalist, 2021 Wall Award (Formerly the Theatre Library Association Award) The untold story behind one of America’s greatest dramas In early 1957, a low-budget black-and-white movie opened across the United States. Consisting of little more than a dozen men arguing in a dingy room, it was a failure at the box office and soon faded from view. Today, 12 Angry Men is acclaimed as a movie classic, revered by the critics, beloved by the public, and widely performed as a stage play, touching audiences around the world. It is also a favorite of the legal profession for its portrayal of ordinary citizens reaching a just verdict and widely taught for its depiction of group dynamics and human relations. Few twentieth-century American dramatic works have had the acclaim and impact of 12 Angry Men. Reginald Rose and the Journey of “12 Angry Men” tells two stories: the life of a great writer and the journey of his most famous work, one that ultimately outshined its author. More than any writer in the Golden Age of Television, Reginald Rose took up vital social issues of the day—from racial prejudice to juvenile delinquency to civil liberties—and made them accessible to a wide audience. His 1960s series, The Defenders, was the finest drama of its age and set the standard for legal dramas. This book brings Reginald Rose’s long and successful career, its origins and accomplishments, into view at long last. By placing 12 Angry Men in its historical and social context—the rise of television, the blacklist, and the struggle for civil rights—author Phil Rosenzweig traces the story of this brilliant courtroom drama, beginning with the chance experience that inspired Rose, to its performance on CBS’s Westinghouse Studio One in 1954, to the feature film with Henry Fonda. The book describes Sidney Lumet’s casting, the sudden death of one actor, and the contribution of cinematographer Boris Kaufman. It explores the various drafts of the drama, with characters modified and scenes added and deleted, with Rose settling on the shattering climax only days before filming began. Drawing on extensive research and brimming with insight, this book casts new light on one of America’s great dramas—and about its author, a man of immense talent and courage. Author royalties will be donated equally to the Feerick Center for Social Justice at Fordham Law School and the Justice John Paul Stevens Jury Center at Chicago-Kent College of Law.

A landmark American drama that inspired a classic film and a Broadway revival—featuring an introduction by David Mamet A blistering character study and an examination of the American melting pot and the judicial system that keeps it in check, Twelve Angry Men holds at its core a deeply patriotic faith in the U.S. legal system. The play centers on Juror Eight, who is at first the sole holdout in an 11-1 guilty vote. Eight sets his sights not on proving the other jurors wrong but rather on getting them to look at the situation in a clear-eyed way not affected by their personal prejudices or biases. Reginald Rose deliberately and carefully peels away the layers of artifice from the men and allows a fuller picture to form of them—and of America, at its best and worst. After the critically acclaimed teleplay aired in 1954, this landmark American drama went on to become a cinematic masterpiece in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for which Rose wrote the adaptation. More recently, Twelve Angry Men had a successful, and award-winning, run on Broadway. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Includes Part 1, Number 1 & 2: Books and Pamphlets, Including Serials and Contributions to Periodicals (January - December)

First published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Britain was arguably the single greatest catalyst and beneficiary of UN peacekeeping operations during the post-war period. This book analyses the reasons for this, including the post-colonial conflicts which Britain handed the UN and its determination to ensure that peacekeeping evolved in a manner compatible with UK national interests. Despite initial ambivalence about letting the UN run military operations, Britain repeatedly used the organization, to shed colonial responsibilities, save face, share policing burdens, and stabilise conflicts in sensitive regions. This comprehensive survey first examines UK experience with antecedents of UN operations, notably 19th century colonial policing and missions set up under the League of Nations. It then analyses British efforts to influence, contain and exploit individual UN operations, including the Emergency Force established following the Suez Crisis (1956-67), the force in the Congo (1960-64), and the enduring operation in Cyprus (1967-). Also covered are several instances when British Governments preferred to intervene unilaterally, including in Jordan and Kuwait. One of the main contributions of the book is the detailed analysis of internal UK Government and UN files, which the author uses to reconstruct the policy making process. The book also sheds light on the peacekeeping policies of certain other key states, particularly the US and USSR. Finally, the account addresses some issues of contemporary relevance, including the tension between neutrality and impartiality, peacekeeping in a semi-permissive environment, and the use of force.