As Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board under President Bill Clinton, William B. Gould IV became widely known for "saving baseball," to quote the former president, for helping to end the 1994-95 Major League Baseball strike. This was only one of the many highlights of a career spanning six decades during which Gould was at the center of every major labor and employment law issue in the US from the development of collective bargaining to employment discrimination and arbitration.

In this remarkable memoir, Gould effortlessly ties his career in labor law and civil rights to his heritage, his upbringing, and his inspirations. Not merely a recounting of events, this autobiography is deeply researched. The author took pains to ferret out and reveal to us the ultimate impact and consequences of the many cases he’s been involved in over the years, excavating not only his memory but the legal terrain of his lifetime of service to the cause of worker’s rights, civil rights, and the advancement and equality of Black Americans. In the tradition of his great-grandfather, the first William B. Gould, whose Civil War diary told of his daring escape from slavery and service in the Union Navy (which would become the basis for Diary of a Contraband), the author kept meticulous diaries that have served him well.