Trials of a lawyer

This memoir deals primarily with the professional and political life of a progressive Minnesota lawyer and congressman, James Manahan (1866-1932). Manahan was born to Irish pioneer parents in Chatfield and became the first man to graduate with a bachelor of law degree from the University of Minnesota. Except for ten youthful years in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he served as executor for the estate of the railroad entrepreneur John Fitzgerald, Manahan built a career in his home state defending the interests of farmers, consumers, and crusaders against the power and political influence of railroads, the Pullman corporation, and other large transportation concerns. The book discusses the Fenians, the Non-Partisan League, the farm cooperative movement, grassroots campaign strategies, and political figures such as Robert La Follette, John P. Altgeld, and William Jennings Bryan. Long excerpts and paraphrases of court arguments are included in the text.