LIVE from NYPL: ORDINARY HEROES: Scott Turow and Jeffrey Toobin

Date and Time
November 1, 2005
Event Details

Jeffrey Toobin and Scott Turow will discuss some of the themes of Turow's new novel, Ordinary Heroes: a son discovers that his father, an Army lawyer in Europe during World War II, had been court-martialed for releasing a suspected spy.

Toobin and Turow will talk about the inevitable secrets and deceptions between the generations, an effect that may have become more pronounced in the case of those who fought in World War II because of their characteristic reluctance to discuss their wartime experiences with their children.

Toobin and Turow also expect to discuss the enigmatic role of law in a time of war, and the problems of re-constructing history, from the perspective of a novelist and a journalist.

About Scott Turow:

Scott Turow is a writer and an attorney. He uses his insider's knowledge of the American legal system to form the basis for best-selling suspense novels. Turow explores the murky terrain of urban justice through highly plotted fiction. He is the author of six bestselling novels: Presumed Innocent, The Burden of Proof, Pleading Guilty, The Laws of Our Fathers, Personal Injuries, and Reversible Errors, which received the Heartland Prize. His latest, Ordinary Heroes, is about an army lawyer on the European battlefields during World War II. Scott Turow has also written two non-fiction books, One L, about his experience as a law student, and Ultimate Punishment, a reflection on the death penalty, which received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He has been a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal, a national law firm, since 1986, concentrating on white-collar criminal defense while also devoting a substantial part of his time to pro bono work. He frequently contributes essays and op-ed pieces to publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker.

About Jeffrey Toobin:

Jeffrey Toobin has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1993. He is also the senior legal analyst for CNN, which he joined in 2002 after six years with ABC News. In 2000, he received an Emmy Award for his coverage of the Elian Gonzalez case. His most recent book is Too Close to Call: The 36-Day Battle to Decide the 2000 Election. He is also the author of A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal that Nearly Brought Down a President, and The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson. Since joining The New Yorker, Mr. Toobin has covered legal affairs and written articles on such subjects as Attorney General John Ashcroft, the Florida recount, Kenneth Starr's investigation of President Clinton, the Paula Jones sexual harassment case, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and the trials of Timothy McVeigh and O.J. Simpson. Prior to joining The New Yorker , Mr. Toobin served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Brooklyn, New York. He also served as an associate counsel in the Office of Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, an experience that provided the basis for his first book, Opening Arguments: A Young Lawyer's First Case--United States v. Oliver North. Toobin is currently at work on a book about the U.S. Supreme Court.