Education
Epps attended Saint Christopher"s School and Harvard College, where he was president of The Harvard Crimson.
(An All the King's Men for Virginia, The Shad Treatment vi...)
An All the King's Men for Virginia, The Shad Treatment vividly chronicles politics in the Old Dominion during the Byrd regime's decline in the 1970s. Thomas Jefferson "Tom Jeff" Shadwell is leading a "people's crusade" to liberate the Governor's Mansion from the grip of the conservative political machine that has controlled the state for fifty years. Against him are ranged the powerful forces that have kept the state back for so long--unreconstructed race-baiting politicians, gentleman farmers, giant corporations, and the "best families." The campaign promises to be the toughest, dirtiest, and most brutal in decades. But for Mac Evans, key aide in the Shadwell campaign, the election offers one last chance for his family to gain vindication and respect after years or defeat and ridicule. Inspired by events and personalities from the heated 1973 gubernatorial election.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0399118292/?tag=2022091-20
( The primary purpose of the United States Constitution i...)
The primary purpose of the United States Constitution is to limit Congress. There is no separation of church and state. The Second Amendment allows citizens to threaten the government. These are just a few of the myths about our constitution peddled by the Far Right—a toxic coalition of Fox News talking heads, radio hosts, angry “patriot” groups, and power-hungry Tea Party politicians. Well-funded, loud, and unscrupulous, they are trying to do to America’s founding document what they have done to global warming and evolution—wipe out the facts and substitute partisan myth. In the process, they seek to cripple the right of We the People to govern ourselves. In Wrong and Dangerous , legal scholar Garrett Epps provides the tools needed to fight back against the flood of constitutional nonsense. In terms every citizen can understand, he tackles ten of the most prevalent myths, providing a clear grasp of the Constitution and the government it established.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/144221676X/?tag=2022091-20
( The story of the constitutional showdown over Native Am...)
The story of the constitutional showdown over Native Americans’ religious use of peyote With the grace of a novel, this book chronicles the six-year duel between two remarkable men with different visions of religious freedom in America. Neither sought the conflict. Al Smith, a substance-abuse counselor to Native Americans, wanted only to earn a living. Dave Frohnmayer, the attorney general of Oregon, was planning his gubernatorial campaign and seeking care for his desperately ill daughters. But before this constitutional confrontation was over, Frohnmayer and Smith twice asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the First Amendment protects the right of American Indians to seek and worship God through the use of peyote. The Court finally said no. Garrett Epps tracks the landmark case from the humblest hearing room to the Supreme Court chamber—and beyond. This paperback edition includes a new epilogue by the author that explores a retreat from the ruling since it was handed down in 1990. Weaving fascinating legal narrative with personal drama, Peyote vs. the State offers a riveting look at how justice works—and sometimes doesn’t—in America today.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806140267/?tag=2022091-20
( "Engaging . . . With a novelist's eye for biographical ...)
"Engaging . . . With a novelist's eye for biographical detail, Epps has written an . . . enthralling book."―David W. Blight, Chicago Tribune The last battle of the Civil War wasn't fought at Appomattox by dashing generals or young soldiers but by middle-aged men in frock coats. Yet it was war all the same―a desperate struggle for the soul and future of the new American Republic that was rising from the ashes of Civil War. It was the battle that planted the seeds of democracy, under the bland heading "Amendment XIV." Scholars call it the "Second Constitution." Over time, the Fourteenth Amendment―which at last provided African Americans with full citizenship and prohibited any state from denying any citizen due process and equal protection under the law―changed almost every detail of our public life. Democracy Reborn tells the story of this desperate struggle, from the halls of Congress to the bloody streets of Memphis and New Orleans. Both a novelist and a constitutional scholar, Garrett Epps unfolds a powerful story against a panoramic portrait of America on the verge of a new era.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805086633/?tag=2022091-20
Epps attended Saint Christopher"s School and Harvard College, where he was president of The Harvard Crimson.
He is professor of law at the University of Baltimore. Previously he was the Orlando J. and Marian H. Hollis Professor of Law at the University of Oregon. He later received an Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing from Hollins University, and a law degree from Duke University, where he was first in his class.
After graduation from Harvard, he was a cofounder of The Richmond Mercury, a short-lived alternative weekly whose alumni include Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Frank Rich and Glenn Frankel.
He also worked as an editor or reporter for The Richmond Afro-American, The Virginia Churchman, The Free-Lance Star, and The Washington Post. From 1983 until 1988, he was a columnist for Independent Weekly (then a bi-weekly).
Immediately before moving to the University of Oregon, he spent a year clerking for the Honorable John Doctorate. Butzner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He has also written numerous articles and editorials in newspapers including the New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic.
In his article "The Founders" Great Mistake", he urged America to amend its Constitution to more closely resemble a parliamentary system.
( The story of the constitutional showdown over Native Am...)
(An All the King's Men for Virginia, The Shad Treatment vi...)
( The primary purpose of the United States Constitution i...)
( "Engaging . . . With a novelist's eye for biographical ...)