Book Review: Five Chiefs By John Paul Stevens

I recently received a copy of the new book Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir by John Paul Stevens to review.


John Paul Stevens served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from December 19, 1975 until his retirement in June 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the oldest member of the Court and the third-longest serving justice in the Court's history. Throughout the book, he mostly talks about encounters with five chiefs: Fred M. Vinson, Earl Warren, Warren E. Burger, William H. Rehnquist, and John G. Roberts Jr. Don't think of it as trendy gossip, but rather anecdotes and observations about the times spent with these men and others. There are black and white photos here and there in the book featuring some of these men and the Supreme Court.

Included at the end of the book in the appendix is the original The Constitution of our beautiful USA, and a complete list of the men who signed it. It also includes the list of amendments that has been made over the years - the first ten of which you probably know as The Bill of Rights.

This was certainly one of the more different topics/books I have read about lately. I tend to stay away from anything political when it comes to my reading choices, but I can't resist the call of history. Once I started diving into this book, I started to learn more about the judicial system through anecdotes and stories than I ever did in high school and college. I felt thirsty for more actually, which surprised me. Reading it, you don't feel like you have a political agenda thrown down your throat, but rather a walk down the personal side of our Judicial system. We get so used to "this politician is evil!" "he lied!" "I'm what's best for this country!" with Congress and the Presidential race that we forget that there is a whole other component to how our country works: the Supreme Court, which is made up of folks who try very hard to interpret our Constitution and other laws the way they were supposed to be. They are human, after all.

Now, if you're totally not into law, history, or politics, you'll probably want to stay away from this book, but for others who enjoy learning more about the topics at hand via personal stories, you'll probably enjoy Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir. Think of it as sitting for a cup of tea with an old gentleman you just met, but don't expect tons of details as this book is on the shorter side.

Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir by John Paul Stevens is a hardcover memoir book published by Little, Brown and Company. It is 304 pages long. The suggested cover price is $24.99, but Amazon has it available for $14.85 as of this posting. It is also available as an e-book for the Kindle and other e-readers.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for sharing my thoughts on it. All opinions are my own, and not that of the author(s) or publisher.