The Other Side of the Mountain

This is the true life story of Jim Turner, who rose from working in a Colorado steel mill to become Deputy Assistant Attorney General, the top career civil servant in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. His accounts of over three decades of crucial roles in federal Klan and hate crimes prosecutions, voting rights enforcement, fair housing battles, and school desegregation efforts have received critical acclaim:

The "bruising but inspiring account of one lawyer's long career in pursuing justice for those in the nation's cellar" —former New York Times White House Correspondent Roy Reed;

"The Other Side of the Mountain presents the life of an authentic pilgrim for justice" —former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights John Dunne;

Turner's story begins in Pueblo, Colorado, where he won an NROTC scholarship to become the first member of his family ever to attend college. A journalism graduate of the University of Missouri, he served as a Marine in Japan and Korea, and completed law school at the University of Colorado. In 1965, after stints as an Honor Recruit in the Justice Department's Tax Division and as a small-firm lawyer in Denver, Turner joined the Civil Rights Division, where he remained until his retirement in 1994. Over the course of his career he served 17 Attorneys General—from William Rogers to Janet Reno—in nine administrations.

Turner worked at every level in enforcing federal civil rights laws and became Deputy Assistant Attorney General in 1969. He made four oral arguments in the Supreme Court and frequently acted as Assistant Attorney General in both Democratic and Republican Administrations.

The Other Side also tells the parallel story of a devoted husband and father who balances the demands of a dynamic career with the needs and pleasures of a large and happy family.