A Nieman Report's Top Ten Investigative Journalism Books of 2013
First published to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Gideon v. Wainwright, which guaranteed all criminal defendants the right to legal counsel, Chasing Gideon offers a personal journey through our systemic failure to fulfill this basic constitutional right. Written in the tradition of Anthony Lewis's landmark work Gideon's Trumpet, it focuses on the stories of four defendants in four states-Washington, Florida, Louisiana, and Georgia-that are emblematic of nationwide problems.
Following its publication, Chasing Gideon became an integral part of a growing national conversation about how to reform indigent defense in America and inspired an HBO documentary as well as the resource website GideonAt50.org.
