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1.02 MB
Extraction Summary
2
People
2
Organizations
1
Locations
2
Events
2
Relationships
4
Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Manuscript draft / memoir excerpt
File Size:
1.02 MB
Summary
This document appears to be a page from a manuscript draft (dated April 2, 2012) of a memoir or autobiography, likely by Alan Dershowitz given the specific biographical details (Harvard professor at 24, Yale Law, Brooklyn background). The text discusses his teaching philosophy of playing 'devil's advocate,' his lack of practical legal experience when first hired, and his transition into First Amendment litigation. It bears a House Oversight Bates stamp.
People (2)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| The Author (likely Alan Dershowitz) | Author/Professor |
Describes themselves as being offered a job at Harvard at age 24, attending Yale, having a Brooklyn upbringing, and f...
|
| Students | Students |
Mentioned as people the author learns from in the classroom.
|
Locations (1)
| Location | Context |
|---|---|
|
Place of author's upbringing, cited as the source of their 'street smarts'.
|
Key Quotes (4)
"I always play the devil’s advocate, challenging every view, questioning every idea, pushing every opinion."Source
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Quote #1
"My classroom is truly a marketplace of ideas."Source
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Quote #2
"When I was offered the job at Harvard at age 24, I knew that I was qualified to teach theoretical subjects, but I worried about my lack of real world legal experience..."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017170.jpg
Quote #3
"Unlike some academics, my Brooklyn upbringing gave me a practical bent of mind— 'street smarts'..."Source
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Quote #4
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (1,228 characters)
4.2.12
WC: 191694
WC: 191694
better able to articulate and defend nuanced positions. The same is true of liberals and everyone else. I always play the devil’s advocate, challenging every view, questioning every idea, pushing every opinion.
In doing so, I learn a great deal from my students. My classroom is truly a marketplace of ideas. This should not be surprising, considering my life-long commitment to freedom of expression and the widest exchange of views, as I describe in the next chapter.
When I was offered the job at Harvard at age 24, I knew that I was qualified to teach theoretical subjects, but I worried about my lack of real world legal experience, since I had never practiced law. (One summer at a law firm between my second and third year at Yale does not a practitioner make.) Unlike some academics, my Brooklyn upbringing gave me a practical bent of mind— “street smarts”—but I craved some real world experience. I looked for opportunities to become involved in cases that would provide a smooth transition from theory to practice. Within a few years of beginning my teaching career, I found a natural transition in the form of First Amendment cases challenging governmental censorship.
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