Some viewers may emerge from the gripping new courtroom drama “Marshall” shaking their heads at the racism of their great-grandparents’ generation. The movie, set in 1941, features infuriatingly bigoted villains, from a contemptuous judge to a roughneck mob bent on street violence — and in suburban Connecticut, no less.
Unfortunately, current events (Donald Trump, Charlottesville, Ed Gillespie’s advertisements) offer an instant rebuke to anyone inclined toward generational smugness. And if recent headlines aren’t enough, I submit two books - equally gripping, if painful, legal dramas that tell more modern tales.
One is Bryan Stevenson’s “Just Mercy,” published three years ago, about a black man railroaded onto death row for a 1986 murder he did not commit.