We can learn much from good biographies, not just about the subject of the biography, but about the times in which he lived and, more broadly, about human nature itself. Ken Foskett's biography of Justice Clarence Thomas is such a book, and we should learn from it: about the boy who grew up in rural, segregated Georgia to become a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; about the prominent African-American leaders who denigrate rather than praise his Horatio Alger story; and about the character of a great man in the face of unjust adversity. But we can also use the biography to move beyond Foskett's own account of Thomas's judicial philosophy to the more nuanced jurisprudence actually embraced by Justice Thomas.

Based on the well-done Atlanta Journal-Constitution series.  From the Harper-Collins site:

With objectivity and balance, author Ken Foskett chronicles Thomas's contempt for upper-crust blacks who snubbed his uneducated, working-class roots; his flirtation with the priesthood and later Black Power; the resentment that fueled his opposition to affirmative action; the conservative beliefs that ultimately led him to the Supreme Court steps; and the inner resilience that propelled him through the doors.

Based on interviews with Thomas himself, fellow justices, family members, and hundreds of friends and associates, Judging Thomas skillfully unravels perhaps the most complex, controversial,and powerful public figure in America today. Foskett reveals that beneath the silent, often brooding exterior is a man of depth, empathy, and wit