The Best Lawyer in a One-Lawyer Town
A Memoir
Dale Bumpers
Foreword by William J. Clinton
978-1-55728-773-1 (paper)
6 x 9, 312 pages
April 2004
$22.95
About
If Frank McCourt had grown up in Depression-era Arkansas, he might write like Dale Bumpers, one of the most colorful, entertaining, and wise politicians in recent American history, Atticus Finch with a sense of humor. In The Best Lawyer in a One-Lawyer Town, Bumpers tells the story of his remarkable journey from poverty to political legend, and the result is a great American memoir that has attracted wide acclaim for its clever southern charm.
Reviews
“This saga of bootstrapping from an impoverished boyhood to the Arkansas governor’s mansion and a distinguished senatorial career could easily serve as a manual for the legislatively inclined. But it is the author’s total candor, combined with his facility for humor spun out of rural America’s plain talk, that lifts this remembrance well above the ordinary.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Former Arkansas governor Bumpers served in the Senate for twenty-four years and is currently with a Washington law firm. However, this witty book indicates that he may have a new career as a humorist on the printed page. . . . These charming tales from a country lawyer turned national politician are thoroughly enjoyable.”
—Publishers Weekly
Praise
“Dale Bumpers is one of the most eloquent speakers ever to grace the United States Senate. He is also one of the wittiest. Far more important, he is a good and wise man, full of timeless lessons and unshakable devotion to our Constitution and country.”
—President William J. Clinton
“How agreeable to read a serious politician’s memoir and find it as full of wit, bite, scorn, compassion, and insight as Dale Bumpers himself.”
—Norman Mailer
“This is the first book I’ve read that made me feel the author should have been president, and that includes books by presidents. Even if for some strange reason you wouldn’t have voted for Bumpers, you’d have to have even stranger reasons not to enjoy his refreshing life story and his funny, often wild and wooly stories.”
—Roy Blount Jr.
“This memoir combines wit, humor, and Southern-style storytelling in a unique manner to illustrate major social and political developments since the 1930s. Human interest and high politics blend with rare harmony in this charming autobiography.”
—James M. McPherson