Days of Infamy wins the 2023 Carter G. Woodson Book Award!
On Account of Race wins the 2021 Lillian Smith Book Award!
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Here are some nice things some very enlightened people have said about my work:
“Lawrence Goldstone’s book, On Account of Race, is a careful and brilliant analysis of the effort of the Southern states to deprive the African-American population of the right to vote after Reconstruction ended in 1877. There was no disguise of their purpose and no restriction on the method they used. From the grandfather clause or poll taxes or literacy tests, whatever could be used to block African-Americans from voting was openly and emphatically applied. The white population was simply determined to keep the ballot box for themselves. Goldstone shows how the courts refused to interfere in any way with this program. Even such noteworthy judges Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes approved the effort. The book carefully examines the campaign which lasted almost 100 years until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.”
—Leon Friedman, Joseph Kushner Distinguished Professor of Civil Liberties Law, Hofstra University.
“One of the saddest episodes in American history has been inadequately explored and poorly understood—until now. Lawrence Goldstone’s brilliantly written book, Inherently Unequal, traces the post-Reconstruction Supreme Court’s slow strangulation of equal rights for African-Americans. It will be a shock to many that the judicial branch, viewed in the modern context as the premier defender of civil rights, was primarily responsible for the nation’s descent into a deep, racist inequality that ruined the lives of millions for a century. As Goldstone shows us, Lincoln’s great legacy was cynically dismantled by the officeholders best positioned to protect it.”
—Larry J. Sabato, Director, Center for Politics, University of Virginia, for Inherently Unequal
“No right is more important than the vote. Yet in this engaging and highly readable book Lawrence Goldstone shows how the Supreme Court, the supposed guardian of our fundamental rights, has repeatedly failed to protect this right for the most vulnerable Americans. With an eye for detail and irony, Goldstone uncovers the dramatic stories behind the cases in which the Court left racial minorities to fend for themselves in a hostile democracy.”
—Adam Winkler, Professor, UCLA School of Law, for On Account of Race.
“Mr. Goldstone shows the specter of slavery lurking behind so many of the delegates’ disputes. He describes the lengths to which these wily debaters would go to make their motives sound nobler than they were and the men themselves freer of the racism of their day than in fact they were.”
—The Wall Street Journal for Dark Bargain
“Captivating and wonderfully presented… a fine book about these rival pioneers.”
—The Wall Street Journal for Birdmen: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies
“Goldstone offers a clear, cogent reading of the court’s machinations, no small accomplishment since the justices generally rested their opinions on convoluted legal reasoning rather than on broad principles. And he’s completely convincing when he argues that behind those carefully parsed opinions lay a deep-seated racism strengthened by the justices’ embrace of Social Darwinism.”
—Washington Post for Inherently Unequal
“Presents a vivid account of a pivotal moment in American constitutional history.”
—Harvard Law Review for The Activist
“Goldstone, an acclaimed popular historian, marks out new terrain with his compelling fiction debut, a medical thriller set in 1889 Philadelphia. With this top-notch historical page-turner and his proven versatility in nonfiction, Goldstone can expect to win over many new fans.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review) for Anatomy of Deception
“A distinguished work full of humor and wisdom, their book suggests that by encouraging children to read and talk about the mystery of complex, substantial books, parents and teachers can greatly expand young peoples’ worlds and ultimately their life choices. As a lesson in how to enrich child-parent relationships, this book is great.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review) for Deconstructing Penguins
“The great puzzle of nineteenth-century American history is why the North waded through blood and gore to free the slaves during the Civil War, only to allow them to be stripped of their civil rights and subject to relentless terror after. Lawrence Goldstone does a brilliant job of showing how the Supreme Court led the way by interpreting the Constitution so as to legalize what was little better than neo-slavery. Inherently Unequal is a valuable corrective for anyone who still believes that judges are above politics or that the Constitution is a clear-cut charter of liberty.”
—Daniel Lazare, author of The Frozen Republic, for Inherently Unequal
“The Goldstones offer both a portrait of an important but neglected Renaissance humanist and a testimony to the power of books to shape minds and hearts.”
—Publishers Weekly for Out of the Flames
“Goldstone keeps his 16th-century themes—murder, religious fanaticism, espionage and court intrigue—moving at a 21st-century pace. In creating his tapestry, he weaves in actual historical figures, not just French royalty but also Rabelais (as earthy and witty as one would expect), John Calvin (severe) and, eventually, Copernicus, whose life is endangered as a result of his ‘heretical’ theories.”
—Kirkus Reviews for The Astronomer
“What makes his book so fascinating is the attention to the medical procedures and innovations of the time … Readers who enjoy Anne Perry’s and Caleb Carr’s psychological thrillers will welcome Goldstone’s brooding, paranoiac addition to the genre.”
—Booklist for Anatomy of Deception
“In this comprehensive and remarkably lucid study of post–Civil War Supreme Court decisions, Goldstone shows how the court’s narrow interpretation of the 14th amendment—bestowing ‘equal protection under the law’ to all Americans, regardless of race—paved the way for future decisions that diminished the status of African-Americans.”
—Publishers Weekly for Inherently Unequal
“Goldstone weaves history, atmosphere, medical procedures, and forensic details into a fascinating story.”
—Boston Globe for Anatomy of Deception
“A sort of Year in Provence for book lovers.”
—Kirkus Reviews for Used and Rare
“Mr. Goldstone does not evince any political purpose in this book. But when we see the founders as ordinary men (or worse, ordinary politicians), we can readily see how absurd it is when judges claim to discover, in the brief text of the Constitution, a moral right to abortion or sodomy, an injunction against creches on public property or new rules for professional golf. Today, the Constitution is little read but widely venerated. Dark Bargain makes the document accessible. Both are highly recommended.”
—The Washington Times for Dark Bargain
“A splendid 16th century thriller.”
—Nick Owchar, Los Angeles Times for The Astronomer
“Will thrill lovers of history, medicine, forensics and, of course, a good mystery.”
—Parade for Anatomy of Deception
“It’s impossible to avoid comparisons between The Astronomer, Lawrence Goldstone’s deft historical thriller, and that familiar blockbuster, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Both take place mostly in France, begin with the murder of a good man, involve dangerous religious sects and a physically repellent zealot, have much spying on all sides, and feature several heart-pounding escapes. Dan Brown’s book was set in the twentieth century, but Mr. Goldstone planted his thriller in the sixteenth, which brings to mind that old saying about Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire—she did everything he did, only backwards and in high heels. Bravo, Mr. Goldstone.”
—New York Journal of Books for The Astronomer