Indefensible -- a PD's day

Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice (KF373.F37 A3 2006 at Classified Stacks) by David Feige shows a public defender's day in the South Bronx. Here's how the author's website describes the book:

If M*A*S*H took place in the Bronx instead of Korea and was about lawyers and judges, not doctors and officers, it would look a lot like INDEFENSIBLE, David Feige's darkly funny and thrilling account of an ordinary day in the complicated life of a public defender in the South Bronx. In the span of a single day we meet murderers and misdemeanants, loutish lawyers, and vindictive judges. We race from courtroom to courtroom, judge to judge, and defendant to defendant, in a shocking behind-the-scenes look at big city justice as it really happens.


This is a book full of black comedy and outrage, of unforgettable characters and situations. Written with the verve and insider know-how of a John Grisham thriller, but with the social conscience of a Barbara Ehrenreich, INDEFENSIBLE has real crossover potential—and should ignite a profound debate about law and order in America. It puts a human face on the terrifying systemic failures that make American criminal justice the dirty little secret of our time.

There's more than the author's own pitch: the book has been warmly reviewed in many newspapers and magazines.

Sounds great! I'm putting it on my list of books I want to read.

You can read Feige's commentary on law and politics on his blog, also called Indefensible.