Overview

Few Americans have done more than Jerome A. Cohen to advance the rule of law in East Asia. The founder of the study of Chinese law in the United States and a tireless advocate for human rights, Cohen has been a scholar, teacher, lawyer, and activist for more than sixty years. Moving among the United States, China, and Taiwan, he has encouraged legal reforms, promoted economic cooperation, mentored law students-including a future president of Taiwan-and brokered international crises. In this compelling, conversational memoir, Cohen recounts a dramatic life of striving for a better world from Washington, DC, to Beijing, offering vital first-hand insights from the study and practice of Sino-American relations. In the early 1960s, when Americans were not permitted to enter China, he met with émigrés in Hong Kong and interviewed them on Chinese criminal procedure. After economic reform under Deng Xiaoping, Cohen's knowledge of Chinese law took on a new importance as foreign companies began to pursue business opportunities. Helping China develop and reconstruct its legal system, he made an influential case for the roles of Western law and lawyers. Cohen helped break political barriers in both China and Taiwan, and he was instrumental in securing the release of political prisoners in several countries. Sharing these experiences and many others, this book tells the full story of an unparalleled career bridging East and West.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jerome A. Cohen (Professor of Law Emeritus)
Publisher:   Columbia University Press
Imprint:   Columbia University Press
ISBN:  

9780231215923

ISBN 10:   0231215924
Pages:   384
Publication Date:   04 March 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Preface: Better Late Than Never? Acknowledgments 1. Confucius Said: “Establish Yourself at Thirty”—The Decision to Study China 2. Growing Up and Getting Educated 3. Behind the Highest Bench: My Year with Chief Justice Warren 4. An Unprecedented Surprise: Another Term, This Time with Justice Frankfurter 5. Lawyering in Washington: Covington & Burling, Dean Acheson, Prosecuting Crime, Senator Fulbright 6. Berkeley Beckons: A Brave New Academic World 7. Studying China at Berkeley: Setting the Stage for a Lifelong Exploration 8. Hong Kong Bound: Interviewing Chinese Refugees 9. Transition to Harvard 10. Passionate Pursuits: A New China Policy 11. Building Harvard’s East Asian Legal Studies: Stimulating Research, Talented Students, and Timeless Ties 12. Kyoto Chronicles: A Year amid Japanese Temples and Turmoil 13. My First Trip to China: Meeting Zhou Enlai, Arguing for Jack Downey 14. Pyongyang Perspectives: Making History in North Korea 15. Saving Future President Kim Dae Jung’s Life and Other South Korean Adventures 16. Cooperating with Ted Kennedy on and in China 17. Stimulating China’s New Legal System: The Coudert Brothers Years 18. Leaving Harvard to Establish Paul Weiss Law Offices in Beijing and Hong Kong 19. Life, Law, and China Practice in the Optimistic 1980s 20. Political Justice in Taiwan: Freeing Annette Lu and Prosecuting Henry Liu’s Assassins 21. The Dark Days of 1989: China’s Tragedy and Vietnam’s Promise 22. Academic Renewal: Charting NYU’s East Asian Law Path 23. Befriending Chen Guangcheng: The Vision of China’s Blind “Barefoot Lawyer” 24. Was Helping China Build Its Post-1978 Legal System a Mistake? 25. “The Curfew Tolls the Knell of Parting Day”: “Tomorrow Will Be Even Better”? Appendix Index

Reviews

Jerome A. Cohen has been the doyen of global studies of the law and politics of China and wider East Asia for more than half a century. International legal scholarship on China has been shaped by his work—not only his seminal writings but also his role as a larger-than-life figure central to transnational academic activities, legal practice, diplomacy, and civil society work engaging with China. Future generations of scholars will turn to this work to understand how China’s legal political system and international and transnational relations evolved. -- Eva Pils, author of <i>Human Rights in China: A Social Practice in the Shadows of Authoritarianism</i> Cohen is a raconteur with a sharp memory for detail. This memoir provides a behind-the-scenes look at a critical moment in U.S.-China interactions as well as a frank, straightforward account of a distinguished career. -- Andrew J. Nathan, coauthor of <i>China’s Influence and the Center-periphery Tug of War in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indo-Pacific</i>

Jerome A. Cohen has been the doyen of global studies of the law and politics of China and wider East Asia for more than half a century. International legal scholarship on China has been shaped by his work—not only his seminal writings but also his role as a larger-than-life figure central to transnational academic activities, legal practice, diplomacy, and civil society work engaging with China. Future generations of scholars will turn to this work to understand how China’s legal political system and international and transnational relations evolved. -- Eva Pils, author of <i>Human Rights in China: A Social Practice in the Shadows of Authoritarianism</i>

Author Information

Jerome A. Cohen is professor emeritus at New York University School of Law, where he is also founder and faculty director emeritus of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute. He is an adjunct senior fellow for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Cohen is the author of several books on Chinese law, and for many years he was a practicing lawyer focused on China.

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