The NAACP's fight against segregated education--the first public
interest litigation campaign--culminated in the 1954 Brown decision.
While touching on the general social, political, and economic climate in
which the NAACP acted, Mark V. Tushnet emphasizes the internal workings
of the organization as revealed in its own documents. He argues that the
dedication and the political and legal skills of staff members such as
Walter White, Charles Hamilton Houston, and Thurgood Marshall were
responsible for the ultimate success of public interest law. This
edition contains a new epilogue by the author that addresses general
questions of litigation strategy, the persistent question of whether the
Brown decision mattered, and the legacy of Brown through the Burger
and Rehnquist courts.