Lise Pearlman: Call Me Phaedra

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CALL ME PHAEDRA: THE LIFE & TIMES OF MOVEMENT LAWYER FAY STENDER

Listen to the Big Blend Radio conversation with Lise Pearlman who discusses Fay Stender’s fascinating life and career, as expertly documented in her new biography “Call Me Phaedra: The Life and Times of Movement Lawyer Fay Stender.”

 

Fay Stender was an extraordinary personality and giant in her field who has never — until now — been the subject of a full biography.  A middle class child prodigy, she abandoned the concert piano to become a zealous advocate for society’s most scorned and vilified defendants, from the Rosenberg espionage case in the early ’50s to Black Panther leader Huey Newton and revolutionary prisoner George Jackson, in the late ‘60s and early ’70s. Lise Pearlman’s comprehensive new book, “Call Me Phaedra: The Life and Times of Movement Lawyer Fay Stender” examines Stender’s life, from her childhood to her amazing legal successes in a hostile environment, her pioneering work for prison reform, and her bitter falling out with the infamous radicals whom she molded into Movement icons. It also chronicles the experiences of her circle of committed activists who were deeply dissatisfied by the reality masked by the white-washed image of America shown on TV in those years and who committed themselves – like Fay Stender – to push society to live up to its stated goals of liberty and justice for all.

“Call Me Phaedra” provides an inside view of activism during the McCarthy Era, the Civil Rights Movement, Free Speech Era, the rise of black power, and the Women’s Rights Movement. Stender’s work both won her international acclaim as a top Movement lawyer and propelled her to a tragic end. The saga of this feminine icon will fascinate those who lived through these eras as well as young adults today interested in the history of American activism and, particularly, women who challenged white-male monopoly power. Those who are working to change American society for the better today can draw valuable lessons from this important new biography and history book which reflects years of research, including access to several unpublished private collections and scores of exclusive interviews.

Lise Pearlman is a retired judge and prize-winning author of “The Sky’s the Limit: People v. Newton, The Real Trial of the 20th Century” and “American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton” as well as a critically acclaimed third history book released in November 2017, “With Justice for Some: Politically Charged Criminal Trials of the Early 20th Century That Helped Shape Today’s America.” Living her whole adult life in the Bay Area where Stender spent her legal career, Pearlman is uniquely qualified to write this definitive biography of Stender. Like Stender, Pearlman clerked on the California Supreme Court, served on the Board of California Women Lawyers and herself has been recognized as a pioneer. She graduated in the first class of women at Yale University, won publicity as the first woman managing partner of a California law firm and was appointed the first Presiding Judge of the state’s lawyer disciplinary court. More at www.LisePearlman.com.

Law Offices of Ward Heinrichs

 


About the Author:

Lise Pearlman is a retired judge and prize-winning author of “The Sky’s the Limit: People v. Newton, The Real Trial of the 20th Century” and “American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton” as well as a critically acclaimed third history book released in November 2017, “With Justice for Some: Politically Charged Criminal Trials of the Early 20th Century That Helped Shape Today’s America.”

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