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Vol. 71, No. 6, June 1998
Book Reviews
This Month's Featured Selections
Harvest of Rage:
Why Oklahoma City Is Only the Beginning
By Joel Dyer. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997. 292 pgs. Hardcover.
Retail: $24.
Reviewed by Brian H. Zygo
 When I heard about the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma
City, my first reaction was the same as many others; I figured
it was the work of foreign terrorists. The notion that this act
of terrorism could have been the work of U.S. citizens who subscribed
to antigovernment ideology did not occur to me until I was sitting
in Austin's typical afternoon traffic gridlock listening to a
radio talk show. One of the callers mentioned that it was the
second anniversary of the fire at the Branch Davidian compound
in Waco. With the arrest of Timothy McVeigh, it became clear that
this bombing was an act of protest against the government for
its actions in Waco, and the media quickly focused their cameras
on the various antigovernment groups scattered all over the country.
During the months following the bombing, the media was full of
stories about antigovernment groups and their leaders. These reports
usually depicted the members of the antigovernment groups as poorly
educated rural people who liked to play with guns; in other words
they really weren't people to be taken seriously. This is an image
Joel Dyer attempts to refute in his well-researched and well-written
book, Harvest of Rage. Although he interviewed and quoted many of the leaders of the
antigovernment movement, this book is not really about them: It
is about the people who make up the bulk of the membership in
the antigovernment groups, and why they have found the antigovernment
messages so appealing.
According to Dyer, the majority of the rank and file in the antigovernment
movement are refugees from the farm crisis that plagued rural
America during the 1980s. In the book's first section, Dyer uses
suicide statistics, true stories, and interviews with rural Americans
and rural psychologists to detail the suffering, despair, and
stress that were infecting America's heartland. In addition, this
section of the book details how the actions of the Federal Reserve
and the consolidation of large agricultural companies were major
factors in causing the foreclosure of successful family farms.
During the late 1970s, many farmers listened to the experts who
told them they had to get big or get out, so they took out loans
to increase their operations. But when the Federal Reserve took
a hard line on inflation, the banks called in the loans and farm
foreclosures became a common occurrence. Losing the family farm
means losing the family's history and letting down the forefathers
who planted that first crop, so it's understandable that many
of the farmers who lost their farms were desperate for help and
ideas that would get their farms back. The government provided
no hope on this front, but antigovernment groups held meetings
detailing ways to use everything from the Magna Carta to strict
interpretations of the U.S. Constitution to the Uniform Commercial
Code in getting the farms back and getting damages from the bankers
and officials believed to be responsible for the foreclosures.
The picture Dyer paints of the farm crisis is convincing enough
to get almost anyone mad at the government for its role in this
tragedy. But this does not mean that Dyer supports the antigovernment
groups. Dyer does an excellent job detailing many of the basic
conspiracy and religious theories that underlie the ideology of
many antigovernment groups, but he also points out that there
are many variations on these theories and disagreements among
the groups. Unfortunately, groups with differing theories and
methods are putting aside their differences and forming alliances
when it comes to recruiting and broadcasting their antigovernment
messages.
In the discussion of these conspiracy theories, Dyer reveals the
many fallacies contained in them. However, Dyer also points out
that the theories contain grains of truth upon which the rest
of the theory is built, and the grains of truth in these theories
often are parts of the root causes of the economic hardships that
have driven many rural Americans to seek help and hope from antigovernment
groups.
In the end, Dyer paints a bleak picture - his visits with members
of various antigovernment groups have led him to believe that
many of these rank and file members, once law-abiding and peace-loving
farmers, are becoming more and more comfortable with the notion
of violence as a proper means for achieving their goals. Dyer
believes the government should recognize the economic problems
in rural America and take steps to provide an alternative source
of help and hope an alternative that steers people clear of
the antigovernment recruiters. However, Dyer fears that the government
is ignoring what is occurring in these rural communities, and
its policies in dealing with antigovernment groups and members
are making matters worse. If this situation continues then Dyer
believes that many antigovernment groups will stop clogging courts
with paper and turn to violent acts, and possibly start carrying
out the many death sentences that have been issued by various
common law courts.
Brian H. Zygo, Austin 1997, holds a B.A. in History and Environmental
Studies from Baylor University, located in Waco, Texas. He is
a staff attorney in Wisconsin Judicare Inc.'s Indian Law Office,
Wausau.
Estate & Elder Law Advisor:
The Integrated Practice Tool
for Estate & Elder Law Practitioners
Eagan, MN: Clark Boardman Callaghan, a West Group division, 1997.
Package with two disks updated quarterly, $1,495. With added option
of Koren, Estate & Personal Finance Planning on CD-ROM, $2,045.
To order, call (800) 890-5558.
Reviewed by Danielle Baerwald
The Estate and Elder Law Advisor is an electronic research tool that assists navigating through
the estate and elder law available on this set of two CD-ROMs.
I found this software to be somewhat user-friendly, although it
is a little tricky to install and run if you have any background
software running, such as a virus or crash protection program.
If you do not run Advisor alone you will get an "illegal operation" message from which
you cannot recover. Technical support (readily available) advised
shutting down all other programs, after which I did not experience
any other system freezes.
Once past the software conflict problem, Advisor runs very well, with many intuitive and familiar features. Advisor provides comprehensive primary and secondary materials including
estate and elder case law; state and federal statutes, regulations,
and policies; and estate, health, and income planning forms. The
forms section is somewhat disappointing. Other estate planning
programs or document merge systems create forms more effectively.
The only other drawback I found was the discussion of Wisconsin's
marital property law. It is better to use the State Bar CLE books
for these issues.
The strength of Advisor is in how easy it is to do research. There basically are two
ways to conduct research. An interactive research guide uses an
interview format to guide you to the analytical discussion of
your topic. From that discussion, you can jump from most citations
right to the full text of the case, statute, regulation, and so
on, and back again. This seems like a good way to conduct research
if you have no idea what you are looking for, but it can be frustrating
if you know your topic. Directly searching the resources on these
disks is very easy: select the books to search (multiple databases
allowed), type in a search request, and view the hits. The number
of hits is readily viewed and moving between the hits is easy.
Overall, this is a very good collective reference source. Although
this information could be found elsewhere, having it in one place
is convenient. But this convenience comes at a price. The Advisor is not cheap and there are monthly maintenance costs to stay
current. The cost of this research tool must be weighed against
the amount of use and convenience it will provide to your firm.
Danielle Baerwald, Marquette 1990, is a solo practitioner in Milwaukee,
working primarily in estate planning and probate.
Promoting the Adoption of Children:
What Lawyers Can Do
Washington, D.C.: ABA Steering Committee on the Unmet Legal Needs
of Children, 1997. Booklet. 36 pgs. $5. To order, call (202) 662-1675.
Reviewed by Theresa L. Schulz
Promoting the Adoption of Children: What Lawyers Can Do is a special publication of the American Bar Association Steering
Committee on the Unmet Legal Needs of Children. This booklet is
one of a series of publications aimed at encouraging more lawyers
to help children and families on a pro bono basis by suggesting
particular projects in which lawyers can become involved. The
pamphlet provides guidelines on planning and establishing pro
bono projects to address the urgent needs of children caught in
today's slow-moving foster care system. First, the pamphlet provides
general ideas on recruiting and training volunteer attorneys,
staffing the pro bono programs, obtaining clients, seeking funding,
and securing malpractice insurance for volunteer attorneys.
The pamphlet then addresses various substantive roles that lawyers
can serve in the adoption process. Each chapter addresses a different
role, describes the duties of the attorney in that role, and offers
suggestions to pro bono program coordinators about obtaining clients
for the pro bono services, and recruiting attorneys to provide
the pro bono services. The pamphlet details the following important
roles that attorneys can serve: representing prospective adoptive
parents, representing biological parents, and representing children.
The pamphlet also addresses ways lawyers can positively impact
the adoption process through court improvement projects, developing
adoption awareness programs, providing training to volunteer attorneys,
and establishing adoption benefits for their own employees.
Theresa L. Schulz, Minnesota 1993, practices employment and adoption
law in Wisconsin and Minnesota from her office in Lake Elmo, Minn.
Tools of the Trade:
Practical Legal Writing for the 21st Century
Jeffrey M. Ellinport. Bethesda, Md: Austin & Winfield, 1997. 248
pgs. Softcover. Retail: $29.95.
Reviewed by Richard Berkley
The publisher's cover notes state that this book is designed for
use in the classroom, office, or by the independent reader. However,
the author states the book aims at a far simpler goal: making
newly graduated lawyers immediately productive in a civil practice.
Although both are sweeping claims, Ellinport's book is a good
effort.
Ellinport begins Tools of the Trade with an anecdote from his first day as a junior associate. A
partner asked him to write a demand letter because a client was
owed a great deal of money. At that moment, Ellinport notes, he
realized that law school had taught him legal theory, substantive
legal knowledge, and how to write an appellate brief or a legal
memorandum. But law school had not taught him how to write the
bread-and-butter documents of a civil law practice. Thus, a partner
told Ellinport he was "useless" for the first few months he worked
for the firm. This book is Ellinport's attempt to keep other new
associates from being "useless."
The book's structure is quite simple. It is divided into 12 chapters
in which Ellinport attempts to replicate the characteristic documents
a lawyer probably would create while handling business for a client.
Each chapter contains a brief preface of what stage the representation
is at and what documents are necessary. For example, Ellinport's
first substantive chapter begins by discussing why clearly written
retainer and fee agreements should be sent to a prospective client
immediately after the first meeting. Then, the remainder of the
chapter contains several sample retainer agreements and assorted
fee agreements. Each subsequent chapter follows this general format.
The book contains chapters on client correspondence, demand letters,
notice letters, complaints, answers, discovery documents, motions,
praecipes, settlement offers and letters, and client billing letters.
Each chapter is preceded by a brief explanation of the principal
forms presented in the chapter, and how and why a lawyer would
use them. A series of exercises is included to challenge readers
to practice creating their own versions of the studied documents.
Ellinport's book is aimed at junior associates, fledgling solo
practitioners, and law students. For them, it will be quite useful.
It probably is not useful for seasoned lawyers unless they are
switching from some other form of practice into civil practice,
or if they have forgotten some of the basics they learned when
they first began practicing law.
Richard Berkley, U.W. 1997, also has an M.A. in Public History
from N.Y.U.
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