SOURCE: "The Elusiveness of Mr. Justice Holmes," in The New England Quarterly, Vol. XIV, No. 3, September, 1941, pp. 478-87.

In the following essay, Boorstin examines Holmes's social philosophy outside of the constitutional issues he decided professionally.

The thought and personality of Mr. Justice Holmes have suffered from affectionate neglect. In proportion to his stature he has received less adequate interpretation than any other American of his generation. He has become the victim of his acolytes, who, in heaping sacrifices at his altar, have obscured the image of their idol. A survey of the literature about the great Justice shows numerous collections of dedicatory essays, giving him deserved adulation and the homage which men can understandably feel compelled to give to such a rare spirit among lawyers. The principal biography is written in a similar vein. But these works have not greatly helped to reveal in the character of Mr...