Böcker av Mike Farris

Clarence Darrow has long been an icon for many lawyers-the "Attorney for the Damned," as he was dubbed by journalist Lincoln Steffens. But the Darrow legend doesn't square with the facts. Blowhard pulls back the curtain and exposes the real Darrow-the Darrow who believed the ends justified the means and that justice was nothing more than "a pattern according to our own personal conceptions." The Darrow who kidnapped and intimidated witnesses. The Darrow who bribed jurors. The Darrow who believed truth was expendable in pursuit of his own goals.You'll never be able to look at Clarence Darrow the same way again.

Hawaii! The very word evokes visions of Paradise - white, sandy beaches; swaying palm trees; silver waterfalls, hula girls; mai tais; and luaus. But all is not paradise in Paradise in the months leading up to World War II. Beneath the glitzy exterior lies a seamy underbelly of sex, drugs, corruption, and violence in a part of Honolulu known as Hotel Street, where lines of servicemen regularly lead into the "hotels," which feature one form of entertainment, and one form only: sex. Three dollars for three minutes. Nineteen-year-old Sadie MacKenzie finds herself trapped in this bizarrely efficient assembly line of prostitution just prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. Her head once filled with dreams of a singing career, she unknowingly finds herself in an entry-level position she never dreamed awaited her: whore. Isle of Broken Dreams tells of her struggles to escape from this life before she loses her soul.

At last it can be told, the true insider story of scandal, treachery, and betrayal behind the publishing of one of the most lucrative juggernauts in publishing history, the blockbuster Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. You've seen the stories in the news. You've read about it in blogs and chat rooms. Now, read the truth as it played out in a Texas courtroom. As Mike Farris, a seasoned trial attorney known for his grit, determination, and integrity, explained to the twelve jurors who would decide the case: "I say there's…two kinds of people. There are the naïve and the trusting; and there are the scheming and the manipulative. And when you get them together, this is what happens."The true story behind the publishing of the international bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey is more sordid and twisted than any story contained in the originator of "mommy porn." It is a maze of international partnership agreements, shady and possibly unenforceable global non-competes bound up with suspicious, constrictive service agreements, confidentiality clauses, non-disclosure agreements, and hidden, secretive contracts that would be worth millions of dollars.Four women partnered together to publish one of the most successful book series of all time, but one of the partners, Australian Amanda Hayward, absconded with the profits. Left holding the empty bag was bubbly Texas school teacher Jennifer Pedroza. Amanda's acts shattered Jennifer's dream of a bright, well-off future. When the puzzle pieces all came back together, an entirely new image had been created: one that cut Jennifer entirely out of the picture. A flurry of cease-and-desist letters, threats of criminal charges and prison, and underhanded scare tactics not only lead Jennifer to discover her own strength and courage, but to discover the attorney willing to stand beside her and fight for justice.Mike Farris, trial lawyer and superb writer and storyteller, teams up with Jennifer Pedroza to tell their remarkable story. This tale of betrayal, breach of trust, and high-stakes litigation will keep you glued to the edge of your seat as it takes you on a roller-coaster journey that one journalist called "Fifty Shades of Greed."

Lies, murder, and a legendary courtroom battle threaten to tear apart the Territory of Hawaii.In September of 1931, Thalia Massie, a young naval lieutenant’s wife, claims to have been raped by five Hawaiian men in Honolulu. Following a hung jury in the rape trial, Thalia’s mother, socialite Grace Fortescue, and husband, along with two sailors, kidnap one of the accused in an attempt to coerce a confession. When they are caught after killing him and trying to dump his body in the ocean, Mrs. Fortescue’s society friends raise enough money to hire seventy-four-year-old Clarence Darrow out of retirement to defend the vigilante killers. The result is an epic courtroom battle between Darrow and the Territory of Hawaii’s top prosecutor, John C. Kelley, in a case that threatens to touch off a race war in Hawaii and results in one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American history.Written in the style of a novel, but meticulously following the historical record, A Death in the Islands weaves a story of lies, deception, mental illness, racism, revenge, and murder—a series of events in the Territory of Hawaii that nearly tore apart the peaceful islands, reverberating from the tenements of Honolulu to the hallowed halls of Congress, and right into the Oval Office itself, and left a stain on the legacy of one of the greatest legal minds of all time.