Historian Bruce Dearstyne urges, ‘Go back to the source’

Historian Bruce Dearstyne has just published a book he hopes will be judged.

“The Crucible of Public Policy: New York Courts in the Progressive Era,” his latest book published by the State University of New York Press, examines cases heard by the state’s top court, the Court of Appeals, which Dearstyne posits was arguably the second most important in the nation, behind the United States Supreme Court.

In the early part of the 20th Century, the Court of Appeals served as a place of test or trial where forces interacted to cause change — a crucible.

Dearstyne’s book shows how the high court mediated among the competing rights of the legislature to regulate through laws, of business owners to manage their businesses without government interference, and of individual New Yorkers to exercise personal liberty.

What he strove to do in his book, Dearstyne says in the week’s Enterprise podcast, is “to present the evidence and say to people … read the decisions for yourself.”

Read the full story at https://altamontenterprise.com/07182022/go-back-source-urges-historian-dearstyne

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