Legal Gladiator: The Life of Alan Dershowitz - Hardcover

by Solomon Schmidt (Author)

The only biography of America's most controversial lawyer.

Legal Gladiator is the story of perhaps the greatest lawyer in American history. It is the story of a poor, failing high schooler from Brooklyn who became the youngest professor in the history of Harvard Law School, where Ted Cruz, Natalie Portman, Mike Pompeo, Jamie Raskin, and others sat under his tutelage. It is the story of a passionate Zionist who advocated for Israel on the world stage and became a confidant of Israeli prime ministers, including Benjamin Netanyahu. And it is the story of a zealous young liberal who, as an old man, stood in front of the Senate to declare that they would be violating the Constitution by removing a Republican president he himself opposed.

As a lawyer, Alan Dershowitz has had a major impact on the most notorious legal cases in modern U.S. history. From Claus von Bulow to Mike Tyson to O.J. Simpson to Jeffrey Epstein to Donald Trump, he has devoted his life to championing the bedrock principle of the American justice system: that every person--no matter how despised--has the right to a rigorous legal defense. Legal Gladiator explores Dershowitz's rise to prominence, gives the inside story of his most high-profile cases and controversies, and provides a shockingly intimate look into his personal life.
Dershowitz gave author Solomon Schmidt unprecedented access to his personal and professional life, including his private archives at Brooklyn College and dozens of interviews with him virtually and in New York City, Miami, Martha's Vineyard, and Israel. This book includes exclusive interview content from Bob Shapiro, Jeffrey Toobin, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Glenn Greenwald, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Eliot Spitzer, Justice Stephen Breyer, Mike Huckabee, Woody Allen, Noam Chomsky, Jared Kushner, Geraldo Rivera, Mark Levin, Mike Pompeo, Megyn Kelly, Mike Tyson, Ted Cruz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., O.J. Simpson, and Donald Trump, among others.

Author Biography

Solomon Schmidt is the author of eight books in a series called History Bites. He wrote his first book at the age of 12, graduated high school at the age of 16, and was described by Fox & Friends as "the youngest child historian in America." In addition to running historical tours in England and Scotland, Solomon also hosts the History Bites YouTube channel, where he has posted over 150 educational videos and interviews, including with Jocko Willink, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Alan Dershowitz, Mike Tyson, and Dame Jane Goodall. Solomon has traveled to Tanzania, Norway, Nepal, Iceland, Greenland, Jordan, Australia, and New Zealand to film videos for his channel and has given lectures at over 50 conferences throughout the United States. Solomon is also working to help expand education in rural parts of Nepal through the JAPA Workbook Initiative. He lives near Buffalo, New York.