The butler's child : an autobiography / Lewis M. Steel, with Beau Friedlander.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Steel, Lewis M., 1937- author.

Friedlander, Beau, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Steel, Lewis M., 1937-.

Steel, Lewis M.

Civil rights lawyers--New York (State)--New York--Biography.

Civil rights lawyers.

Labor lawyers--New York (State)--New York--Biography.

Labor lawyers.

Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century.

Civil rights movements.

United States.

History.

New York (State)--New York.

Genre:

Autobiographies.

Biographies.

Physical Description:

viii, 312 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, 2016.

Summary:

"The Butler's Child is the personal story of a Warner Brothers family grandson who spent more than fifty years as a fighting, no holds barred civil rights lawyer. Lewis explores why he, a privileged white man, devoted his life to seeking racial progress in often uncomprehending or hostile courts. In fact, after writing a feature for The New York Times Magazine entitled "Nine Men in Black Who Think White," Lewis was fired from the NAACP and the entire legal staff resigned in support of him. Lewis speaks about his family butler, an African American man named William Rutherford, who helped raise Lewis, and their deep but ultimately troubled relationship, as well as how Robert L. Carter, the NAACP's extraordinary general counsel, became Lewis' mentor, father figure and lifelong close friend. Lewis exposes the conflicts which arose from living and working in two very different worlds - that of the Warner Brothers family and that of a civil rights lawyer. He also explores his more than fifty year marriage and love of Kitty Muldoon, how they raised their three children, as well as their efforts to bridge two very different Jewish and Irish American families. Lewis' work with the NAACP set civil rights law and legal precedents still at work today; The Butler's Child is also an insider's look into some of the most important civil rights cases from the turbulent 1960s to the present day"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Attica

Childhood

Culver Military Academy and Harvard

Bill Rutherford

Kitty Muldoon

Starting at the NAACP

Getting my feet wet

Dealing with fear

Robert L. Carter's northern campaign

The Cincinnati School case

NAACP battles

Two different worlds

1968

Bill Rutherford dies and a new beginning

Tony Maynard

Auburn Prison and life in the Hamptons

The Harlem four

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and John Artis

A racist court

The 1970s and 1980s

Life among white liberals

Navigating racial lines

Black lives matter

Going forward.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781250073006

1250073006

OCLC:

933765684

Publisher Number:

99968026649