Scott Turow
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Scott Frederick Turow (born April 12, 1949) is an American
author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
and lawyer. Turow has written 13 fiction and three nonfiction books, which have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies.Scott Turow Bio
/ref> Turow’s novels are set primarily among the legal community in the fictional Kindle County. Films have been based on several of his books.


Life and career

Turow was born in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, to a family of
Russian Jew The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...
ish descent. He attended New Trier High School and graduated from Amherst College in 1970, as a brother of the Alpha Delta Phi Literary Society. He received an Edith Mirrielees Fellowship to
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
’s Creative Writing Center, which he attended from 1970 to 1972. Turow later became a
Jones Lecturer The Jones Lectureship at Stanford University is a two-year teaching fellowship available to previous Stegner Fellows. The Lectureship is available in fiction and poetry and is intended to provide writers with the time and support needed to complete ...
at Stanford, serving until 1975, when he entered
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
. In 1977, Turow wrote ''
One L ''One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School'' is a 1977 autobiographical book by Scott Turow. Summary ''One L'' tells author Scott Turow's experience as a first-year Harvard Law School student. The book takes place in ...
'', a book about his first year at law school. After earning his
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
(J.D.) degree '' cum laude'' in 1978, Turow became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago, serving in that position until 1986. There, he prosecuted several high-profile
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
cases, including the
tax fraud Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...
case of state Attorney General, William Scott. Turow was also lead counsel in
Operation Greylord Operation Greylord was an investigation conducted jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Chicago Police Department Internal Affairs Division and the Illino ...
, the federal prosecution of judicial corruption cases in Illinois. After leaving the U.S. Attorney's Office, Turow became a novelist and wrote the legal thrillers '' Presumed Innocent'' (1987), '' The Burden of Proof'' (1990), ''
Pleading Guilty ''Pleading Guilty'', published in 1993, is Scott Turow's third novel, and like the previous two it is set in fictional Kindle County Scott Frederick Turow (born April 12, 1949) is an American author and lawyer. Turow has written 13 fiction a ...
'' (1993), and ''
Personal Injuries ''Personal Injuries'' is a novel by Scott Turow which was published in 1999. Like all of Turow's novels (bar his autobiographies), it takes place in fictional Kindle County and many of the characters are recognized from other Turow novels. Plot ...
'', which ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine named as the Best Fiction Novel of 1999. All four books became bestsellers, and Turow won multiple literary awards, most notably the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers' Association. In 1990, Turow was featured on the June 11 cover of ''Time'', which described him as "Bard of the Litigious Age". In 1995, Canadian author
Derek Lundy Derek Lundy (born December 14, 1946) is a Canadian author. His first published book was ''Scott Turow: Meeting the Enemy''. He achieved bestseller status with his second work, ''Godforsaken Sea: Racing the World's Most Dangerous Waters'', an accou ...
published a biography of Turow, entitled ''Scott Turow: Meeting the Enemy'' (ECW Press, 1995). In the 1990s, a British publisher bracketed Turow’s work with that of Margaret Atwood and
John Irving John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of ''The World According to ...
, republished in the series ''Bloomsbury Modern Library.'' Turow was elected the President of the Authors Guild in 2010, which he was previously President of from 1997 to 1998. As the President of the Authors Guild, he has been criticized for his copyright maximalist and anti- ebook stance. Turow has often responded that he is not against E-books, however, and he has shared that, in fact, he does the majority of his own reading electronically. According to Turow, he is interested in protecting writing as a livelihood. From 1997 to 1998, Turow was a member of the U.S. Senate Nominations Commission for the Northern District of Illinois, which recommends federal judicial appointments. In 2011, Turow met with
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
professor,
Lawrence Lessig Lester Lawrence Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American academic, attorney, and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard ...
, to discuss political reform, including a possible Second Constitutional Convention of the United States. According to one source, Turow saw risks with having such a convention, but he believed that it may be the "only alternative,” given his stance that campaign money can undermine the one man, one vote principle of democracy. Turow is a retired partner of the international law firm
Dentons Dentons is the largest multinational law firm in the world. Dentons was ranked as the world's 4th- largest law firm by revenue, with $2.9B gross revenue by Global 200 ranking in the fiscal year 2021. The firm is called Dentons in all languages o ...
having been a partner of one of its constituents, the Chicago law firm of
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP (informally Sonnenschein) was an international law firm with nearly 800 lawyers and other professionals in the United States and Europe, serving businesses, non-profits and individuals.Alejandro Hernandez, a man that spent 11 years on death row for a murder he did not commit. He was also appointed to the commission considering the reform of the Illinois death penalty by former
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
George Ryan George Homer Ryan (born February 24, 1934) is an American former politician and member of the Republican Party who served as the 39th governor of Illinois from 1999 to 2003. Elected in 1998, Ryan received national attention for his 1999 mora ...
. Additionally, Turow was the first Chair of the Illinois Executive Ethics Commission, and he served as one of the 14 members on the Commission, which was appointed in March of 2000, by Illinois Governor George Ryan to consider reform of the
capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
system. Turow also served as a member of the Illinois State Police Merit Board 2000–2002.


Bibliography


Novels

Turow’s fiction is set primarily among the legal community in the fictional Kindle County. According to Turow, he planned to set his first novel, ‘’Presumed Innocent’’ in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, where he attended law school. But by the time he finished the work, the setting had taken on characteristics of Chicago, Turow’s hometown to which he had returned. # '' Presumed Innocent'', 1987 ( Film) # '' The Burden of Proof'', 1990 ( Film) # ''
Pleading Guilty ''Pleading Guilty'', published in 1993, is Scott Turow's third novel, and like the previous two it is set in fictional Kindle County Scott Frederick Turow (born April 12, 1949) is an American author and lawyer. Turow has written 13 fiction a ...
'', 1993 # ''
The Laws of Our Fathers ''The Laws of Our Fathers'', published in 1996, is Scott Turow's fourth and longest novel, at 832 pages. Plot When last seen in Turow's '' The Burden of Proof'', Sonia Klonsky was a prosecutor with the U. S. Attorney's office in Kindle County wi ...
'', 1996 # ''
Personal Injuries ''Personal Injuries'' is a novel by Scott Turow which was published in 1999. Like all of Turow's novels (bar his autobiographies), it takes place in fictional Kindle County and many of the characters are recognized from other Turow novels. Plot ...
'', 1999 # '' Reversible Errors'', 2002 ( Film) # '' Ordinary Heroes'', 2005 # ''
Limitations Limitation may refer to: *A disclaimer for research done in an experiment or study *A Statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum ...
'', 2006 # ''
Innocent Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience. In relation ...
'', 2010 ( TV program on TNT) # ''
Identical Two things are identical if they are the same, see Identity (philosophy). Identical may also refer to: * ''Identical'' (Hopkins novel), a 2008 young adult novel by Ellen Hopkins * ''Identical'' (Turow novel), a 2013 legal drama novel by Scott T ...
'', 2013 # ''
Testimony In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. ...
'', May 2017 # '' The Last Trial'', 2020 # '' Suspect'', Sept 2022


As editor

* ''Guilty As Charged'', 1996 (as editor) * ''
The Best American Mystery Stories ''The Best American Mystery and Suspense'' is an annual anthology of North American mystery and thriller stories. Part of ''The Best American Series'' since 1997, it is published by Empire Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. Prior to 2021, its t ...
'', 2006 (as editor)


Non-fiction

* ''
One L ''One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School'' is a 1977 autobiographical book by Scott Turow. Summary ''One L'' tells author Scott Turow's experience as a first-year Harvard Law School student. The book takes place in ...
'', 1977 * '' Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty'', 2003 * ''Hard Listening'', co-authored in July 2013, an interactive ebook about his participation in a writer/musician band, the
Rock Bottom Remainders The Rock Bottom Remainders, also known as the Remainders, was an American rock charity supergroup, consisting of published writers, most of them both amateur musicians and popular English-language book, magazine, and newspaper authors. The band ...
. Published by
Coliloquy Coliloquy is a digital publishing house based in San Francisco, which specializes in interactive fiction. Lisa Rutherford and Waynn Lue co-founded the startup in January 2012. Coliloquy has published books from over 40 authors, among them Stephe ...
, LLC.


Reception

His non-fiction work ''Ultimate Punishment'' also received the
Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (formerly the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, or RFK Center) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit human rights advocacy organization. It was named after United States Senator Robert F. Kenned ...
2003 Book award given annually to a novelist who "most faithfully and forcefully reflects Robert Kennedy's purposes – his concern for the poor and the powerless, his struggle for honest and even-handed justice, his conviction that a decent society must assure all young people a fair chance, and his faith that a free democracy can act to remedy disparities of power and opportunity."


Films

* '' Presumed Innocent'', 1990 * '' The Burden of Proof'', 1992 * '' Reversible Errors'', 2004 * ''
Innocent Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience. In relation ...
'', 2011


Awards

Scott Turow was inducted as a Laureate of
The Lincoln Academy of Illinois The Lincoln Academy of Illinois is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to recognizing contributions made by living Illinoisans. Named for Abraham Lincoln, the Academy administers the ''Order of Lincoln'', the highest award given ...
and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State’s highest honor) by the Governor of Illinois in 2000 in the area of Communications.


See also

*
List of bestselling novels in the United States This is a list of lists of bestselling novels in the United States as determined by ''Publishers Weekly''. The list features the most popular novels of each year from 1895 through 2010. The standards set for inclusion in the lists – which, for ...
* Second Constitution of the United States


References


External links


Official website
* *
A reading from ''The Laws of Our Fathers'' by Scott TurowInterview
on '' Ordinary Heroes'' at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library * {{DEFAULTSORT:Turow, Scott 1949 births Living people Amherst College alumni Stanford University alumni Stanford University faculty Harvard Law School alumni New Trier High School alumni American thriller writers Rock Bottom Remainders members 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American people of Russian-Jewish descent Writers from Chicago Illinois lawyers American male novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Illinois