Unprecedented in its global impact, the Great Depression sounded the death knell of unfettered capitalism. Four men - all from wildly different backgrounds, all with decidedly disparate temperments and all equally devoted to FDR - were the primary authors of what would essentially be America's new Constitution. Scorpions is the story of their personalities, their relationships and above all their ideas in the crucial years of depression and war - years in which these men created the national game plan that would save the country by rebuilding the economy and defeating the Nazis and the Soviets in turn. It is also the story of how these men - Felix Frankfurter, Hugo Black, Robert Jackson and William O. Douglas (a Jew, a Klansman, a Yankee, and a Westerner) - advised, cajoled, used and were used by the man who brought them together and whom they all revered: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

About the Author

Noah Feldman is the author of three books. In 2003 he was senior constitutional advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and subsequently advised members of the Iraqi Governing Council on the drafting of the Transitional Administrative Law or interim constitution. He is currently a professor at the NYU School of Law, a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, and an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Prizes

A group biography of the relationship between FDR and four of his Supreme Court justices: Felix Frankfurter, Hugo Black, Robert Jackson, and William O. Douglas, written by one of the most brilliant legal scholars at work today.

Reviews

Smart and engaging New York Times Book Review Full of high-stakes intellectual drama Washington Post