Etcher

Bryan A. Garner is an author, lawyer, grammarian, and lexicographer. He has written over 25 books, including standard references such as Garner’s Modern English Usage and Legal Writing in Plain English. His most recent Godine title, co-authored with JackLynch, was Hardly Harmless Drudgery: A 500-Year Pictorial History of the Lexicographic Geniuses, Sciolists, Plagiarists, and Obsessives Who Defined the English Language. He is Distinguished Research Professor of Law at Southern Methodist University.

“The Etcher is a terrific book....It is full of encounters with almost everyone who was anyone, from World War I until the 1950s. The pictures are amazing, and law professors and legal scholars in particular will appreciate the etchings of the justices, which serve to humanize these rarefied figures.”—Los Angeles Review of Books“Garner uncovers in this scrupulous biography the life of artist and etcher Oskar Stoessel....A worthy resurrection of a little-known artist.”—Publishers Weekly“This tale of friendship, personal indebtedness, and gratitude will appeal to lawyers and art-lovers alike, which is no mean feat.”—Hon. Morris S. Arnold, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit“This is a richly textured resurrection of the life of a great artist. It reflects the conviction that even the most powerful and malicious of dictators cannot ultimately efface art. It also serves to remind us of the immense contribution to American culture made by gifted and desperate persons fleeing oppression. Garner’s pen is a perfect match for Stoessel’s etchings and, like them, vividly brings to life their subjects.”—Philip Bobbitt, Herbert Wechsler Professor of Jurisprudence, Columbia Law School