Description
Book SynopsisTo know the story of the life and times of Judge Gilbert Merritt is to understand modern U.S. politics of the mid to late 20th century—how it came to be, and how it worked—particularly in the American South.
Judge Gilbert Merritt and his circle of young lawyers and journalists in Nashville were among the South’s earliest Kennedy Democrats in the late 1950s. Their brash political strivings, though not always victorious at the polls, affected the shape of many things, including the rise of modern Nashville.
As a young legal scholar in his twenties, Merritt was one of the nation’s youngest U.S. Attorneys (appointed by President Johnson); candidate for Congress; opponent of the death penalty; President Carter’s nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; and almost a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
This social biography is a graduate course in Southern political history, and how that history is much more than campaigns and elections. It depicts a much deeper weave of the power of friendship and loyalty, the influence of history upon individuals and generations, and of how communities of interest formed and evolved over time in our nation—and of how it is all connected.
Trade Review“Keel Hunt delivers another fascinating book on Southern political history with the publication of A Sense of Justice: Judge Gilbert S. Merritt and His Times. It is a must-read for lawyers, judges and anyone with an interest in politics.” —Justice Sharon Lee, Tennessee Bar Review
“A Sense of Justice: Judge Gilbert S. Merritt and His Times isn’t just a biography of Judge Merritt. It’s a chronicle of Nashville’s most influential movers and shakers through more than five decades. [ . . . ] But the book is more than a collection of accolades and acclamation. Hunt takes time to recount Merritt’s mettle in the courtroom and beyond, whether it was his opposition to the death penalty, defense of free speech, or support for civil rights and the integration of the Nashville Bar Association.” —G. Robert Frazier, Chapter 16
“. . . I started reading the Keel Hunt book, A Sense of Justice, and could not be diverted. [ . . . ] The book is about an independent court system; one that follows the Rule of Law; and a judicial system that acts as checks and balances on abuse of power by other branches. The biography is about Gil Merritt and his concept of equality. To quote Judge Merritt: ‘Again, that goes back to the idea of evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.’” —Judge Paul G. Summers (Ret.)
“A beautiful and literate presentation of a complex and unique man.” —Jack May
