Swygert, Michael I.

English

ValpoScholar

Valparaiso University Law Review 
Volume 5 
Number 3 Spring 1971 pp.692-695 
Spring 1971 
Charles A. Reich, The Greening of America 
Michael I. Swygert 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr 
 Part of the Law Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Michael I. Swygert, Charles A. Reich, The Greening of America, 5 Val. U. L. Rev. 692 (1971). 
Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr/vol5/iss3/13 
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open 
access by the Valparaiso University Law School at 
ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in 
Valparaiso University Law Review by an authorized 
administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, 
please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at 
scholar@valpo.edu. 
THE GREENING OF AMERICA. By Charles A. Reich. New York:.
Random House, Inc. 1970. Pp. 395. $7.95.
Eyes panning with occasional darts and zooms, face smiling at
everything and everybody, frame mildly bent forward, Charles Reich
was walking toward the Yale Co-op. It was early Spring, 1968. Reich
had just come from Sterling Law Buildings where he was a professor
of law. We noticed him near the corner of York and Broadway in front
of Liggets Drugs. And we noticed that when he walked he did not look
straight ahead, but rather scanned and visualized all around him.
Moreover, although undoubtedly traversing the route a thousand times,
he appeared to be observing the scene for the first time. Perhaps repeated
sightings of familiar surroundings result in different or deeper visions.
In any event, Reich's street style was representative of his larger
activity-that of an observer and diagnostician of our times.
It is a rare individual who observes imaginatively, comprehen-
sively, relevantly, insightfully and perceptively, and then reports to others
his or her mental findings. It is difficult enough to make sense out of the
quiet and dead past, let alone to make logic out of the noisy and alive
present. Indeed, to remove oneself from the 20th century and view the
present as from the 2 1st demands a keen intellect to perceive not only
events and conditions but to grasp the near term flows and undertows of
those events and conditions. Few persons possess this immediate extra-
polative sense.
Yes, there are "futurists" such as Buckminster Fuller and Aldous
Huxley. But, whereas Fuller and Huxley discount near-term prospects
and look ahead far beyond their own generations, Reich concentrates
on the near term, just beyond the cutting edge of time, drawing on the
recent past and the present as the predicates for projective analysis.
He attempts to do what many theorists and scholars consistently
shy away from-diagnosing in a comprehensive fashion present-day
society. He is the young Yale Laswell and McDougal but without the
form and disciplined methods of his elders. If Reich is to be criticised,
it could be for this very reason-that his intellect, although extensive and
intensive, is free flowing, poetic, not rigidly structured, not compart-
mentalized, not specialized, not systematically precise.' But Reich, I
1. A similar point has been made by a colleague, Professor Jack Hiller, in review-
ing Mr. Justice Douglas' recent book, Points of Rebellion. His comments are equally
applicable to Reich:
The book is patchy; it indulges in overstatement, it draws sharp conclusions
Swygert: Charles A. Reich, The Greening of America
Produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press, 1971
BOOK REVIEWS
think, would reply that such charges are welcome, suggesting, perhaps,
that specialization and methodical inquiry narrows vision and focus.
All right, we need the narrow focus and close-up detailed studies. We
also need the wide angle. Reich attempts the wide angle and as such
comes close to being a contemporary historian.
Reich in his best selling book, The Greening of America, uses the
wide angle in describing the development of American society and
institutions during the past few decades, then looks at the present and
ventures into the future on the wave of the young. As such, the book is
topical and is full of insights.
To be topical and insightful, one first must observe and observe
without haste-to wit, Reich's hikes to the Co-op, usually not via the
short cut behind Hungry Charlie's and Morry's next to Ezra Stiles, but
the longer way around via the York-Broadway pinacle. Reich was
neither hurried nor hurrying in the Spring of 1968.
Once Reich had been in a hurry. Once he would have felt compelled
to take the short-cut to the Co-op. For until a decade ago, Charles Reich
had been an active participant in the high level lawyer arenas of New
York City and Washington, D.C.
Receiving undergraduate exposure at Oberlin, Reich obtained his
law degree from Yale where he played the game quite well, earning
impressive grades, talking in a terribly articulate manner and, as a result,
receiving an appointment to the Yale Law Journal.
In the early 50's (when Reich graduated from the Yale Law School)
editors of the Journal following graduation typically would associate
with the large New York City law firms, known as Wall Street firms
even if located in the Pan-Am building in midtown, 54 blocks north of
Wall Street. Reich was no exception, associating in 1953 with the
prestigious firm of Cravath, Swaine and Moore.
The most brilliant and creative of the Journal editors, moreover, on
occasion would receive an appointment as law clerk to a justice of the
United States Supreme Court. Again, Reich was no exception. Following
a year on Wall Street, Reich left for Washington to clerk for Mr. Justice
Hugo Black. Subsequently, Reich associated with the Washington, D.C.,
from rather vague evidence; it is heavily laced with rhetorical questions which
are the earmarks of a harangue and it really says nothing new. But maybe this
is making the wrong kinds of demands .... To fault him for painting boldly
and with a broad brush, though he is capable of painting delicately and with
precision, would be the same as criticising Picasso for painting Les Demo-
iselles d' Avignon and saying that he should have painted in the classical
style. Some things can only be said boldly ....
4 VAi. U.L. REv. 421, 424 (1970).
19711
Valparaiso University Law Review, Vol. 5, No. 3 [1971], Art. 13
https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr/vol5/iss3/13
694 VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 5
law firm known then as Arnold, Fortas and Porter, considered by many
at the time to be one of "the" law firms. Reich was still no exception,
although consistently exceptional. But in 1969, after practicing law for
six years in Washington, Reich became the exception-the Wall Street
drop-out. He joined the faculty of the Yale Law School as an associate
professor of law.
This biographical data taken from unofficial records is important
since it reveals that Reich was in the "real world" for a number of years
and, in fact, practiced law with firms involved daily in setting up and
maintaining the giant corporations about which Reich writes in part in
The Greening of America. Many reviewers of Greening have criticised
Reich for not knowing what the corporate life is all about-for sitting in
his New Haven ivory tower. But such reviewer response is nonsense;
Reich's life, about which he does not write in Greening, was for a signi-
ficant period the corporate, Saturday aftenoon at the office existence. In
truth, Reich was a corporate state insider for a while-a corporate state
insider with responsibilities for keeping the corporate machinery well
oiled and operable. He was, to use his own phrase, a knife thrower-a
precision instrument for hire.
It may be said, although somewhat glibby, that Reich is now
throwing knives at corporations rather than for corporations. But given
a first rate intellect and observational power, an ability to relate and to
relevantize, Reich is a man of our times who comes as close as any man
can to a diagnosis of his own age without benefit of autopsy.
In early 1968 Reich was not widely known. In fact, many of the
law students signed up for "The Social and Intellectual Perspectives of
Property" with very little idea of what the course was going to cover. We
knew nothing about the instructor, Charles Reich. A few of us students,
upon seeing the word "property" in the course title, instantly decided not
to sign up for it. We, as typical cynical "old graduate" law students,
began still another semester of Socratic method and Langdell case book
techniques in the age of improvisation and experimentation, or so we
were told.
But then something unusual began to happen in the lounge. Certain
students were actually discussing a preceding class-no, not just dis-
cussing it, but arguing, analyzing, and yes, even shouting about it. What
was this course? Who was the teacher?
Upon the urging of a classmate, I signed up late along with 100 other
students and went on to attend class for a semester to a degree far out of
line with my past attendance performances. Reich, many of us concluded,
was a fresh breeze but not because he made fee simples interesting-he
Swygert: Charles A. Reich, The Greening of America
Produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press, 1971
BOOK REVIEWS
never mentioned them-but because he was timely, topical, and current,
and because he was the greatest negativist we had ever encountered.
Whatever one's political philosophy-new deal liberalism, federalism, 19th
century conservatism, civil libertarianism, Fabian socialism, Marxism,
etc., Reich systematically appeared to tear it down by attacking and
destroying the finished product and by showing inherent defects as
programed in the original blueprints.
It was a class capable of humiliating not only men but, indeed,
governments, institutions, systems of thought. It was a class in which
many of us took copious notes in order to pass the message along.
We need not have. Reich took notes too, and he has published them
in his best selling book. Moreover, he has added a chapter on hope-his
own blueprint for the future, by discussing what he calls Consciousness
III.
It probably won't be made into a movie for decades. If it is cellu-
loidized, it may be titled "The Rise, Fall, and Second Rise of America."
For in essence, Reich's thesis is one which provokes despair, yet hope.
He writes about both.
I won't attack or defend Reich's book. I only offer him to you for
your own digestion and response. I urge you, as I was urged, to attend
his class-The Greening of America.
MICHAEL I. SWYGERT*
* Assistant Professor of Law, Valparaiso University School of Law.
1971]
Valparaiso University Law Review, Vol. 5, No. 3 [1971], Art. 13
https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr/vol5/iss3/13


Charles A. Reich, The Greening of America

Valparaiso University

Valparaiso University Law Review Volume 5 Number 3 Spring 1971 pp.692-695 Spring 1971 Charles A. Reich, The Greening of America Michael I. Swygert Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr  Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Michael I. Swygert, Charles A. Reich, The Greening of America, 5 Val. U. L. Rev. 692 (1971). Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr/vol5/iss3/13 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Valparaiso University Law School at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Valparaiso University Law Review by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at scholar@valpo.edu. THE GREENING OF AMERICA. By Charles A. Reich. New York:.Random House, Inc. 1970. Pp. 395. $7.95.Eyes panning with occasional darts and zooms, face smiling ateverything and everybody, frame mildly bent forward, Charles Reichwas walking toward the Yale Co-op. It was early Spring, 1968. Reichhad just come from Sterling Law Buildings where he was a professorof law. We noticed him near the corner of York and Broadway in frontof Liggets Drugs. And we noticed that when he walked he did not lookstraight ahead, but rather scanned and visualized all around him.Moreover, although undoubtedly traversing the route a thousand times,he appeared to be observing the scene for the first time. Perhaps repeatedsightings of familiar surroundings result in different or deeper visions.In any event, Reich's street style was representative of his largeractivity-that of an observer and diagnostician of our times.It is a rare individual who observes imaginatively, comprehen-sively, relevantly, insightfully and perceptively, and then reports to othershis or her mental findings. It is difficult enough to make sense out of thequiet and dead past, let alone to make logic out of the noisy and alivepresent. Indeed, to remove oneself from the 20th century and view thepresent as from the 2 1st demands a keen intellect to perceive not onlyevents and conditions but to grasp the near term flows and undertows ofthose events and conditions. Few persons possess this immediate extra-polative sense.Yes, there are "futurists" such as Buckminster Fuller and AldousHuxley. But, whereas Fuller and Huxley discount near-term prospectsand look ahead far beyond their own generations, Reich concentrateson the near term, just beyond the cutting edge of time, drawing on therecent past and the present as the predicates for projective analysis.He attempts to do what many theorists and scholars consistentlyshy away from-diagnosing in a comprehensive fashion present-daysociety. He is the young Yale Laswell and McDougal but without theform and disciplined methods of his elders. If Reich is to be criticised,it could be for this very reason-that his intellect, although extensive andintensive, is free flowing, poetic, not rigidly structured, not compart-mentalized, not specialized, not systematically precise.' But Reich, I1. A similar point has been made by a colleague, Professor Jack Hiller, in review-ing Mr. Justice Douglas' recent book, Points of Rebellion. His comments are equallyapplicable to Reich:The book is patchy; it indulges in overstatement, it draws sharp conclusionsSwygert: Charles A. Reich, The Greening of AmericaProduced by The Berkeley Electronic Press, 1971BOOK REVIEWSthink, would reply that such charges are welcome, suggesting, perhaps,that specialization and methodical inquiry narrows vision and focus.All right, we need the narrow focus and close-up detailed studies. Wealso need the wide angle. Reich attempts the wide angle and as suchcomes close to being a contemporary historian.Reich in his best selling book, The Greening of America, uses thewide angle in describing the development of American society andinstitutions during the past few decades, then looks at the present andventures into the future on the wave of the young. As such, the book istopical and is full of insights.To be topical and insightful, one first must observe and observewithout haste-to wit, Reich's hikes to the Co-op, usually not via theshort cut behind Hungry Charlie's and Morry's next to Ezra Stiles, butthe longer way around via the York-Broadway pinacle. Reich wasneither hurried nor hurrying in the Spring of 1968.Once Reich had been in a hurry. Once he would have felt compelledto take the short-cut to the Co-op. For until a decade ago, Charles Reichhad been an active participant in the high level lawyer arenas of NewYork City and Washington, D.C.Receiving undergraduate exposure at Oberlin, Reich obtained hislaw degree from Yale where he played the game quite well, earningimpressive grades, talking in a terribly articulate manner and, as a result,receiving an appointment to the Yale Law Journal.In the early 50's (when Reich graduated from the Yale Law School)editors of the Journal following graduation typically would associatewith the large New York City law firms, known as Wall Street firmseven if located in the Pan-Am building in midtown, 54 blocks north ofWall Street. Reich was no exception, associating in 1953 with theprestigious firm of Cravath, Swaine and Moore.The most brilliant and creative of the Journal editors, moreover, onoccasion would receive an appointment as law clerk to a justice of theUnited States Supreme Court. Again, Reich was no exception. Followinga year on Wall Street, Reich left for Washington to clerk for Mr. JusticeHugo Black. Subsequently, Reich associated with the Washington, D.C.,from rather vague evidence; it is heavily laced with rhetorical questions whichare the earmarks of a harangue and it really says nothing new. But maybe thisis making the wrong kinds of demands .... To fault him for painting boldlyand with a broad brush, though he is capable of painting delicately and withprecision, would be the same as criticising Picasso for painting Les Demo-iselles d' Avignon and saying that he should have painted in the classicalstyle. Some things can only be said boldly ....4 VAi. U.L. REv. 421, 424 (1970).19711Valparaiso University Law Review, Vol. 5, No. 3 [1971], Art. 13https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr/vol5/iss3/13694 VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 5law firm known then as Arnold, Fortas and Porter, considered by manyat the time to be one of "the" law firms. Reich was still no exception,although consistently exceptional. But in 1969, after practicing law forsix years in Washington, Reich became the exception-the Wall Streetdrop-out. He joined the faculty of the Yale Law School as an associateprofessor of law.This biographical data taken from unofficial records is importantsince it reveals that Reich was in the "real world" for a number of yearsand, in fact, practiced law with firms involved daily in setting up andmaintaining the giant corporations about which Reich writes in part inThe Greening of America. Many reviewers of Greening have criticisedReich for not knowing what the corporate life is all about-for sitting inhis New Haven ivory tower. But such reviewer response is nonsense;Reich's life, about which he does not write in Greening, was for a signi-ficant period the corporate, Saturday aftenoon at the office existence. Intruth, Reich was a corporate state insider for a while-a corporate stateinsider with responsibilities for keeping the corporate machinery welloiled and operable. He was, to use his own phrase, a knife thrower-aprecision instrument for hire.It may be said, although somewhat glibby, that Reich is nowthrowing knives at corporations rather than for corporations. But givena first rate intellect and observational power, an ability to relate and torelevantize, Reich is a man of our times who comes as close as any mancan to a diagnosis of his own age without benefit of autopsy.In early 1968 Reich was not widely known. In fact, many of thelaw students signed up for "The Social and Intellectual Perspectives ofProperty" with very little idea of what the course was going to cover. Weknew nothing about the instructor, Charles Reich. A few of us students,upon seeing the word "property" in the course title, instantly decided notto sign up for it. We, as typical cynical "old graduate" law students,began still another semester of Socratic method and Langdell case booktechniques in the age of improvisation and experimentation, or so wewere told.But then something unusual began to happen in the lounge. Certainstudents were actually discussing a preceding class-no, not just dis-cussing it, but arguing, analyzing, and yes, even shouting about it. Whatwas this course? Who was the teacher?Upon the urging of a classmate, I signed up late along with 100 otherstudents and went on to attend class for a semester to a degree far out ofline with my past attendance performances. Reich, many of us concluded,was a fresh breeze but not because he made fee simples interesting-heSwygert: Charles A. Reich, The Greening of AmericaProduced by The Berkeley Electronic Press, 1971BOOK REVIEWSnever mentioned them-but because he was timely, topical, and current,and because he was the greatest negativist we had ever encountered.Whatever one's political philosophy-new deal liberalism, federalism, 19thcentury conservatism, civil libertarianism, Fabian socialism, Marxism,etc., Reich systematically appeared to tear it down by attacking anddestroying the finished product and by showing inherent defects asprogramed in the original blueprints.It was a class capable of humiliating not only men but, indeed,governments, institutions, systems of thought. It was a class in whichmany of us took copious notes in order to pass the message along.We need not have. Reich took notes too, and he has published themin his best selling book. Moreover, he has added a chapter on hope-hisown blueprint for the future, by discussing what he calls ConsciousnessIII.It probably won't be made into a movie for decades. If it is cellu-loidized, it may be titled "The Rise, Fall, and Second Rise of America."For in essence, Reich's thesis is one which provokes despair, yet hope.He writes about both.I won't attack or defend Reich's book. I only offer him to you foryour own digestion and response. I urge you, as I was urged, to attendhis class-The Greening of America.MICHAEL I. SWYGERT** Assistant Professor of Law, Valparaiso University School of Law.1971]Valparaiso University Law Review, Vol. 5, No. 3 [1971], Art. 13https://scholar.valpo.edu/vulr/vol5/iss3/13

https://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2107&amp;context=vulr

Charles A. Reich, The Greening of America

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

ValpoScholar

Valparaiso University