Thomas Geoghegan

A lawyer's personal and professional labor history, particularly of the West-Virgina area coal and Chicago-area steel workers.

Now, at a time when the cynicism about our government's value is a topic of heated discussion, Thomas Geoghegan vividly redefines the terms of the debate. Combining memoir and trenchant observation, he uses his own life to explore what it means to be a "national" civil servant and a "local" citizen. The decline of the "national idea," the rise of the States, and the growing weakness of the central government pushed Geoghegan to the local level in Chicago. There, as a lawyer, he fought evils of a new kind: tuberculosis among the homeless, the spread of child labor, the use of jails to house the poor - evils that the progressives at the turn of the century had vanquished but were now back in a new and more virulent form. National government and majority rule were once the two great achievements of our history. But now, as Geoghegan vividly shows, the weakness and gridlock of the central government has undermined our sense of local community and local citizenship, and, most perniciously, has restricted our ability to affect the political process at every level, leading to disengagement. In revealing the true nature of the current problems and the connections among them, The Secret Lives of Citizens shows how we might reclaim our right to shape our government and secure for everyone the true promise of American life.

"Is labor's day over or is labor the only real answer for our time? In this new book ... labor lawyer Thomas Geoghegan argues that even as organized labor seems to be crumbling, a revived--but different--labor movement is now more relevant than ever in our increasingly unequal society. The inequality reshaping the country goes beyond money and income: the workplace is more authoritarian than ever, and we have even less of a say over our conditions at work"--

Argues that as the pillars of the American legal system are crumbling, so too is the American democracy. Explains how the 2000 presidential election was only the first sign that justice is now driven by party politics. Geoghegan notes how even lawyers are becoming disillusioned with the law, as federal cases are increasingly determined by whether they are heard by a Bush-appointed judge or a Clinton-appointed judge, and ultimately contends that the sense of disorder in our legal system has never been greater, and we may no longer have the basic civic trust necessary to preserve the rule of law. [Publisher web site].