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The Spirit of the Laws
First edition. Genève: Barrillot, 1754
Author(s)	Montesquieu
Country	France
Language	French
Subject(s)	law
Genre(s)	non-fiction
Publication date	1748
Published in English	1756
Media type	paper

The Spirit of the Laws (French: De l'esprit des lois, also sometimes called The Spirit of Laws^[1]) is a treatise on political theory first published anonymously by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu in 1748 with the help of Claudine Guérin de Tencin. Originally published anonymously partly because Montesquieu's works were subject to censorship, its influence outside of France was aided by its rapid translation into other languages. In 1750 Thomas Nugent published the first English translation. In 1751 the Catholic Church added L'esprit des lois to its Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("List of Prohibited Books"). Yet Montesquieu's political treatise had an enormous influence on the work of many others, most notably: Catherine the Great, who produced Nakaz (Instruction); the Founding Fathers of the United States Constitution; and Alexis de Tocqueville, who applied Montesquieu's methods to a study of American society, in Democracy in America. Macaulay offers us a hint of Montesquieu's importance when he writes in his 1827 essay entitled "Machiavelli" that "Montesquieu enjoys, perhaps, a wider celebrity than any political writer of modern Europe."

Montesquieu spent nearly twenty years researching and writing L'esprit des lois (The Spirit of the Laws), covering many things like the law, social life, and the study of anthropology and providing more than 3,000 commendations.^[2] In this political treatise Montesquieu pleaded in favor of a constitutional system of government and the separation of powers, the ending of slavery, the preservation of civil liberties and the law, and the idea that political institutions ought to reflect the social and geographical aspects of each community.^[2]

Constitutional theory[link]

In his classification of kinds of political systems, Montesquieu defines three main kinds: republican, monarchical, and despotic. As he defines them, Republican political systems vary depending on how broadly they extend citizenship rights -- those that extend citizenship relatively broadly are termed democratic republics, while those that restrict citizenship more narrowly are termed aristocratic republics. The distinction between monarchy and despotism hinges on whether or not "intermediate powers" (such as the nobility, the clergy, etc.) exist that can restrain the authority of the ruler: if so, the regime counts as a monarchy; if not, it counts as despotism.

Driving each classification of political system, according to Montesquieu, must be what he calls a "principle". This principle acts as a spring or motor to motivate behavior on the part of the citizens in ways that will tend to support that regime and make it function smoothly. For democratic republics (and to a somewhat lesser extent for aristocratic republics), this spring is the love of virtue -- the willingness to put the interests of the community ahead of private interests. For monarchies, the spring is the love of honor -- the desire to attain greater rank and privilege. Finally, for despotisms, the spring is the fear of the ruler. A political system cannot last long if its appropriate principle is lacking. Montesquieu claims, for example, that the English failed to establish a republic after the Civil War (1642–1651) because the society lacked the requisite love of virtue.

Liberty and the separation of powers[link]

A second major theme in De l'esprit des lois concerns political liberty and the best means of preserving it. "Political liberty" is Montesequieu's concept of what we might call today personal security, especially insofar as this is provided for through a system of dependable and moderate laws. He distinguishes this view of liberty from two other, misleading views of political liberty. The first is the view that liberty consists in collective self-government -- i.e. that liberty and democracy are the same. The second is the view that liberty consists in being able to do whatever one wants without constraint. Not only are these latter two not genuine political liberty, he thinks, they can both be hostile to it.

Political liberty is not possible in a despotic political system, but it is possible, though not guaranteed, in republics and monarchies. Generally speaking, establishing political liberty on a sound footing requires two things:

• The separation of the powers of government.

Building on and revising a discussion in John Locke's Second Treatise of Government, Montesquieu argues that the executive, legislative, and judicial functions of government should be assigned to different bodies, so that attempts by one branch of government to infringe on political liberty might be restrained by the other branches. (Habeas Corpus is an example of a check that the Judiciary branch has on the Executive branch of government.) In a lengthy discussion of the English political system, he tries to show how this might be achieved and liberty secured, even in a monarchy. He also notes that liberty cannot be secure where there is no separation of powers, even in a republic.

• The appropriate framing of civil and criminal laws so as to ensure personal security.

Montesquieu intends what modern legal scholars might call the rights to "robust procedural due process", including: the right to a fair trial; the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty; and proportionality in the severity of punishment. Pursuant to this requirement to frame civil and criminal laws appropriately to ensure political liberty (i.e., personal security), Montesquieu also argues against slavery and for the freedom of opinion and association.

Climate, culture, and society[link]

The third major contribution of De l'esprit des lois was to the field of political sociology, which Montesquieu is often credited with more or less inventing. The bulk of the treatise, in fact, concerns how geography and climate interact with particular cultures to produce the "spirit" of a people. This spirit, in turn, inclines that people toward certain sorts of political and social institutions, and away from others. Later writers often caricatured Montesquieu's theory by suggesting that he claimed to explain legal variation simply by the distance of a community from the equator.

While the analysis in De l'esprit des lois is much more subtle than these later writers perceive, many of his specific claims appear foolish to modern readers. Nevertheless, his approach to politics from a naturalistic or scientific point of view proved very influential, directly or indirectly inspiring modern fields of political science, sociology, and anthropology.

See also[link]

• Comparative law
• Democracy
• Letter and spirit of the law
• Rule of law
• Mutual Liberty

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Bok, Hilary. "Baron de Montesquieu". "[1]". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• de Secondat, Charles, Baron de Montesquieu. The Spirit of the Laws. 2 vols. Originally published anonymously. 1748; Crowder, Wark, and Payne, 1777. The Spirit of the Laws. Trans. Thomas Nugent (1750). Rev. J. V. Prichard. ("Based on a public domain edition published in 1914 by G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., London. Rendered into HTML and text by Jon Roland of The Constitution Society.") Accessed May 16, 2007.
• –––. Montesquieu: Spirit of the Laws. Eds. Anne M. Cohler, Basia Carolyn Miller, and Harold Samuel Stone. Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1989. ISBN 0-521-36974-6 (10). ISBN 978-0-521-36974-9 (13). (Paperback ed.; 808 pp.)
• Volume 1: http://books.google.com/books?id=5zZJAAAAMAAJ (Free)
• Volume 2: http://books.google.com/books?id=x9QtAAAAYAAJ (Free)

Part of the series on: The Dialogues of Plato

Early dialogues:

Apology – Charmides – Crito

Euthyphro – First Alcibiades

Hippias Major – Hippias Minor

Ion – Laches – Lysis

Transitional & middle dialogues:

Cratylus – Euthydemus – Gorgias

Menexenus – Meno – Phaedo

Protagoras – Symposium

Later middle dialogues:

Republic – Phaedrus

Parmenides – Theaetetus

Late dialogues:

Clitophon – Timaeus – Critias

Sophist – Statesman

Philebus – Laws

Of doubtful authenticity:

Axiochus – Demodocus

Epinomis – Epistles – Eryxias

Halcyon – Hipparchus – Minos

On Justice – On Virtue

Rival Lovers – Second Alcibiades

Sisyphus – Theages

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Part of a series on
Plato
Early life · Works · Platonism Epistemology · Idealism / Realism · Demiurge Theory of Forms Form of the Good Third man argument Euthyphro dilemma · Five regimes Philosopher king
Allegories and metaphors
Ring of Gyges · The cave The divided line · The sun Ship of state · Myth of Er The chariot
Related articles
The Academy in Athens Socratic problem Commentaries on Plato Middle Platonism · Neoplatonism Neoplatonism and Christianity
v t e

The Laws (in Greek: Νόμοι) is Plato's last and longest dialogue. The conversation depicted in the work's twelve books begins with the question of who is given the credit for establishing a civilization's laws. Its musings on the ethics of government and law have established it as a classic of political philosophy alongside Plato's more widely read Republic.

Scholars generally agree that Plato wrote this dialogue as an older man, having failed in his effort in Syracuse on the island of Sicily to guide a tyrant's rule, instead having been thrown in prison. These events are alluded to in the Seventh Letter. The text is noteworthy as Plato's only undisputed dialogue not to feature Socrates.

Summary[link]

Setting[link]

Unlike most of Plato's dialogues, Socrates does not appear in the Laws: the dialogue takes place on the island of Crete, and Socrates appears outside of Athens in Plato's writings only twice, in the Phaedrus, where he is just outside the city's walls, and in the Republic, where he goes down to the seaport Piraeus five miles outside of Athens. The conversation is instead lead by an Athenian Stranger (in Greek, xenos) and two other old men, the ordinary Spartan citizen Megillos and the Cretan politician and lawgiver Clinias from Knossos.

The Athenian Stranger, who resembles Socrates but whose name is never mentioned, joins the other two on their religious pilgrimage from Knossos to the cave of Zeus. The entire dialogue takes place during this journey, which mimics the action of Minos: said by the Cretans to have made their ancient laws, Minos walked this path every nine years in order to receive instruction from Zeus on lawgiving. It is also said to be the longest day of the year, allowing for the densely-packed twelve chapters.

By the end of the third book Clinias announces that he has in fact been given the responsibility of creating the laws for a new Cretan colony, and that he would like the Stranger's assistance. The rest of the dialogue proceeds with the three old men, walking towards the cave and making laws for this new city which is called the city of the Magnetes (or Magnesia).^[1][2]

Topics[link]

The question asked at the beginning is not "What is law?" as one would expect. That is the question of the apocryphal Platonic dialogue Minos. The dialogue rather proceeds from the question of who it is that receives credit for creating laws.

The questions of the Laws are quite numerous, including:

• Divine revelation, divine law and law-giving
• The role of intelligence in law-giving
• The relations of philosophy, religion, and politics
• The role of music, exercise and dance in education
• Natural law and natural right

The dialogue uses primarily the Athenian and Spartan (Lacedaemonian) law systems as background for pinpointing a choice of laws, which the speakers imagine as a more or less coherent set for the new city they are talking about.

Comparisons[link]

Comparisons to Plato's other dialogues[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2009)

The Laws is similar to and yet in opposition to the Republic. It is similar in that both dialogues concern the making of a city in speech, and both cities are copies after the life of gods. The city of the Laws is described as "second best", not because the first best is the city of the Republic, but because it is the city of gods and their children. The city of the Laws differs in its allowance of private property and private families, and in the very existence of written laws, from the city of the Republic, with its communistic property-system, community of wives, and absence of written law. Also, whereas the Republic is a dialogue between Socrates and several young men, the Laws is a discussion among old men, where children are not allowed and there is always a pretence of piety and ritualism.

Traditionally, the Minos is thought to be the preface, and the Epinomis the epilogue, to the Laws, but these are generally considered by scholars to be spurious.^[3]

In the Laws, Plato takes a harsh view of homosexual relations, and proposes to legislate against them. This differs from the stance taken by Aristophanes in the Symposium and is in stark contrast to the Phaedrus, which presents pederasty in a positive light.

Comparisons to other works on Greek law[link]

Plato was not the only Ancient Greek author writing about the law systems of his day, and making comparisons between the Athenian and the Spartan (Lacedaemonian) laws. Notably, the Constitution of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians, long attributed to Xenophon (another of Socrates' pupils), and the Constitution of the Athenians, an apocryphal work attributed Aristotle, have also survived.

Some centuries later Plutarch would also devote attention to the topic of Ancient Greek law systems, e.g. in his Life of Lycurgus. Lycurgus was the legendary law-giver of the Lacedaemonians. Plutarch compares Lycurgus and his Spartan laws to the law system Numa Pompilius introduced in Rome around 700 BC.^[4]

Both pseudo-Xenophon and Plutarch are stark admirers of the Spartan system, showing less reserve than Plato in expressing that admiration.

See also[link]

• Gymnasium
• Mixed government
• Gymnopaedia
• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 23

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

Regarding Plato's Laws

• Bobonich, Christopher (2011). Plato's Laws: a Critical Guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/0-521-88462-3.|0-521-88462-3.]]. 
• Kochin, Michael (2002). Gender and Rhetoric in Plato's Political Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-80852-9. 
• Kenklies, Karsten (2007). Die Pädagogik des Sozialen und das Ethos der Vernunft. Die Konstitution der Erziehung im platonischen Dialog Nomoi. Jena: IKS Garamond. ISBN 978-3-938203-52-1. 
• Lutz, Mark J. (2012). Divine Law and Political Philosophy in Plato's Laws. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press. ISBN 978-0-87580-445-3. 
• Pangle, Thomas L., 1980. The Laws of Plato, Translated, with Notes and an Interpretive Essay, New York, Basic Books.
• The Open Society and Its Enemies – Karl Popper attacking what he claimed was a totalitarian undercurrent in Plato's "political" works.
• The Argument and the Action of Plato's Laws, by Leo Strauss

Other ancient texts about law systems

• Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians by Xenophon at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Plutarch at Project Gutenberg (Life of Lycurgus is in Volume I of the Lives)

External links[link]

• Laws. Rare Henry Cary literal translation from the Bohn's Classical Library (Harvard, 1859)
• 'Laws' at Project Gutenberg, a 19th century nonliteral translation by Jowett.
• Laws from the Perseus Digital Library.

The Spirit (Denny Colt) is a crime-fighting fictional character created by writer-artist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940 in "The Spirit Section", the colloquial name given to a 16-page Sunday supplement, distributed to 20 newspapers by the Register and Tribune Syndicate and reaching five million readers during the 1940s. In the 2000s, following Eisner's death, the Spirit returned in comic books published by DC Comics.

The Spirit chronicles the adventures of a masked vigilante who fights crime with the blessing of the city's police commissioner Dolan, an old friend. Despite the Spirit's origin as detective Denny Colt, his real identity was virtually unmentioned again, and for all intents and purposes he was simply "the Spirit". The stories range through a wide variety of styles, from straightforward crime drama and noir to lighthearted adventure, from mystery and horror to comedy and love stories, often with hybrid elements that twisted genre and reader expectations.

The feature was the lead item of a 16-page, tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book sold as part of eventually 20 Sunday newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies. "The Spirit Section", as it was colloquially called, premiered June 2, 1940, and continued until October 5, 1952. It generally included two other, four-page strips (initially Mr. Mystic and Lady Luck), plus filler material. Eisner worked as editor, but also wrote and drew most entries—generally, after the first few months, with such uncredited collaborators as writer Jules Feiffer and artists Jack Cole and Wally Wood, though with Eisner's singular vision for the character as a unifying factor.

Publication history[link]

In late 1939, Everett M. "Busy" Arnold, publisher of the Quality Comics comic-book line, began exploring an expansion into newspaper Sunday supplements, aware that many newspapers felt they had to compete with the suddenly burgeoning new medium of American comic books. Arnold compiled a presentation piece with existing Quality Comics material. An editor of The Washington Star liked George Brenner's The Clock, but not Brenner's art, and was favorably disposed toward a Lou Fine strip. Arnold, concerned over the meticulous Fine's slowness and his ability to meet deadlines, claimed it was the work of Eisner, Fine's boss at the Eisner & Iger studio, from which Arnold bought his outsourced comics work.

In "late '39, just before Christmas time," Eisner recalled in 1979,^[1] "Arnold came to me and said that the Sunday newspapers were looking for a way of getting into this comic book boom". In a 2004 interview, Eisner elaborated on that meeting:

"Busy" invited me up for lunch one day and introduced me to [sales manager of the Des Moines Register and Tribune Syndicate] Henry Martin, who said, "The newspapers in this country, particularly the Sunday papers, are looking to compete with comics books, and they would like to get a comic-book insert into the newspapers"... Martin asked if I could do it... It meant that I'd have to leave Eisner & Iger [which] was making money; we were very profitable at that time and things were going very well. A hard decision. Anyway, I agreed to do the Sunday comic book and we started discussing the deal [which] was that we'd be partners in the "Comic Book Section", as they called it at that time.^[2]

Eisner negotiated an agreement with the syndicate in which Arnold would copyright The Spirit, but, "Written down in the contract I had with 'Busy' Arnold — and this contract exists today as the basis for my copyright ownership — Arnold agreed that it was my property. They agreed that if we had a split-up in any way, the property would revert to me on that day that happened. My attorney went to 'Busy' Arnold and his family, and they all signed a release agreeing that they would not pursue the question of ownership."^[2] This would include the eventual backup features, "Mr. Mystic" and "Lady Luck."

Selling his share of their firm to Iger, who would continue to package comics as the S. M. Iger Studio and as Phoenix Features through 1955, for $20,000,^[3] Eisner left to create The Spirit. "They gave me an adult audience", Eisner said in 1997, "and I wanted to write better things than superheroes. Comic books were a ghetto. I sold my part of the enterprise to my associate and then began The Spirit. They wanted an heroic character, a costumed character. They asked me if he'd have a costume. And I put a mask on him and said, 'Yes, he has a costume!'"^[4]

The character and the types of stories Eisner would tell, Eisner said in 1978, derived from his desire

...to do short stories. I always regarded comics as a legitimate medium, my medium. Creating a detective character would... provide me with the most viable vehicle for the kind of stories I could best tell. The syndicate people weren't in full agreement with me... [I]n my first discussion with 'Busy' Arnold, his thinking centered around a superhero kind of character—a costumed character; we didn't use the word 'superhero' in those days... and I argued vehemently against it because I [had] had my bellyful of creating costumed heroes at Eisner and Iger... [S]o actually one evening, around three in the morning, I was still working, trying to find it—I only had about a week-and-a-half or two weeks in which to produce the first issue, the whole deal was done in quite a rush—and I came up with an outlaw hero, suitable, I felt, for an adult audience.^[5]

The character's name, he said in that interview, came from Arnold: "When 'Busy' Arnold called, he suggested a kind of ghost or some kind of metaphysical character. He said, 'How about a thing called the Ghost?' and I said, 'Naw, that's not any good,' and he said, 'Well, then, call it the Spirit; there's nothing like that around.' I said, 'Well, I don't know what you mean.,' and he said, 'Well, you can figure that out—I just like the words "the Spirit."' He was calling from a bar somewhere, I think... [A]nd actually, the more I thought about it the more I realized I didn't care about the name."^[5]

The Spirit, an initially eight- and later seven-page urban-crimefighter series, ran with the initial backup features "Mr. Mystic" and "Lady Luck" in a 16-page Sunday supplement (colloquially called "The Spirit Section") that was eventually distributed in 20 newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies.^[6] It premiered June 2, 1940, and continued through 1952.^[7]

Eisner was drafted into the U.S. Army in late 1941, "and then had about another half-year which the government gave me to clean up my affairs before going off" to fight in World War II.^[5] In his absence, the newspaper syndicate used ghost writers and artists to continue the strip, including Manly Wade Wellman, William Woolfolk, and Lou Fine.^{[citation needed]}

Eisner's rumpled, masked hero (with his headquarters under the tombstone of his supposedly deceased true identity, Denny Colt) and his gritty, detailed view of big-city life (based on Eisner's Jewish upbringing in New York City) both reflected and influenced the noir outlook of movies and fiction in the 1940s.^{[citation needed]} The strip is notable in that it spun stories of the little people overlooked in the city's maelstrom.^{[citation needed]} In some episodes, the nominal hero makes a brief, almost incidental appearance while the story focuses on a real-life drama played out in streets, dilapidated tenements, and smoke-filled back rooms. Yet along with violence and pathos, The Spirit lived on humor, both subtle and overt. He was machine-gunned, knocked silly, bruised, often amazed into near immobility and constantly confused by beautiful women.^{[citation needed]}

The feature ended with the October 5, 1952, edition.^[7] As The Comics Journal editor-publisher Gary Groth wrote, "By the late '40s, Eisner's participation in the strip had dwindled to a largely supervisory role. ... Eisner hired Jerry Grandenetti and Jim Dixon to occasionally ink his pencils. By 1950, [Jules] Feiffer was writing most of the strips, and Grandenetti, Dixon, and Al Wenzel were drawing them."^[8] — Grandenetti penciling as a ghost-artist, under Eisner's byline, said in 2005 that before the feature's demise, Eisner had "tried everything. Had me penciling 'The Spirit'. Later on it was Wally Wood", who drew the final installments.^[9]

Fictional character biography[link]

The Spirit, referred to in one newspaper article cited below as "the only real middle-class crimefighter", was the hero persona of young detective Denny Colt. Presumed killed in the first three pages of the premiere story, Colt later revealed to his friend, Central City Police Commissioner Dolan, that he had in fact gone into suspended animation caused by one of archvillain Dr. Cobra's experiments. When Colt awakened in Wildwood Cemetery, he established a base there and, using his new-found anonymity, began a life of fighting crime wearing only a small domino mask, blue business suit, red necktie, fedora hat, and gloves for a costume. The Spirit dispensed justice, funding his adventures with the rewards for capturing villains.

The Spirit was based originally in New York City which soon changed to Central City, but his adventures took him around the globe. He met up with eccentrics, kooks, and femme fatales, bringing his own form of justice to all of them. The story changed continually, but certain themes remained constant: the love between the Spirit and Dolan's feisty protofeminist daughter Ellen; the annual "Christmas Spirit" stories; and the Octopus (a psychopathic criminal mastermind who was never seen, except for his distinctive gloves).

Ebony White[link]

Eisner is sometimes criticized for his depiction of Ebony White, the Spirit's African-American sidekick. The character's name is a racial pun, and his facial features, including large white eyes and thick pinkish lips, are typical of racial blackface caricatures popular throughout the "Jim Crow" era. Eisner later admitted to consciously stereotyping the character, but said he tried to do so with "responsibility", and argued that "at the time humor consisted in our society of bad English and physical difference in identity".^[10] The character, who was consistently treated with respect by the strip's fellow cast-members, developed beyond the stereotype as the series progressed, and Eisner also introduced such African-American characters as the no-nonsense Detective Grey who defied popular stereotypes.

In a 1966 New York Herald Tribune feature by Eisner's former office manager-turned-journalist, Marilyn Mercer wrote, "Ebony never drew criticism from Negro groups (in fact, Eisner was commended by some for using him), perhaps because, although his speech pattern was early Minstrel Show, he himself derived from another literary tradition: he was a combination of Tom Sawyer and Penrod, with a touch of Horatio Alger hero, and color didn't really come into it".^[11]

The DC Comics' Spirit comic-book series of the late 2000s portrays White as a street kid, driving a stolen taxi.^{[citation needed]} He is portrayed as putting his street experience and his daring attitude to work at the Spirit's service.^{[citation needed]}

Other characters[link]

• The Octopus is the arch-enemy of the Spirit. He is a criminal mastermind and master of disguise who never shows his real face, though he is identified by his distinctive gloves. In the second issue of the 1960s Harvey Comics Spirit comic book, his name is given as Zitzbath Zark. (Vide sitz bath.)
• P'Gell is a femme fatale who perennially tries to seduce the Spirit to a life of crime at her side. She seduces and marries wealthy men who invariably die in mysterious ways, and uses their money to fund her crime empire in Istanbul and expand her influence and control over the underworld. After moving to Central City to find the Spirit, she continues her modus operandi of selected marriages with the creme of society, even gaining an ally in the form of Saree, the young daughter of one of her deceased husbands. In the 2000s DC Comics version, P'Gell was once a young socialite in love with a doctor, working in Third World countries, and turned to a life of crime when he was killed. P'Gell was ranked 52nd in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.^[12]
• Sand Saref is a childhood friend of Denny Colt, and knows he is the Spirit. Working in espionage, she usually ends up on the opposite side of the law from him. She appears several times, always involved in some criminal scheme. (Vide sans serif.) Sand Seref was ranked 73rd in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.^[13]
• Silken Floss is a nuclear physicist and a surgeon, who acts as the accomplice to the Octopus.
• Dr. Cobra is a mad scientist whose chemicals and machinations inadvertently help Denny Colt become the Spirit.
• Mister Carrion is a morbid con man with a pet vulture, Julia. (Vide carrion.)
• Darling O' Shea is the richest and most spoiled child in the world.
• Hazel P. Macbeth is a witch with a Shakespearean motif and apparent magical powers.
• Lorelei Rox, an apparent siren, appeared in a September 1948 strip and subsequently in 2000s DC Comics Spirit stories.
• Silk Satin is a tall, statuesque brunette with a white streak in her hair, originally an adventuress who later reformed and worked as an international troubleshooter for the insurance company Croyd's of Glasgow. In the 2000s DC Comics revival, she is a smaller, more slender, blond CIA agent. Silk Satin was ranked 72nd in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.^[14]

The Spirit and John Law[link]

Several Spirit stories, such as the first appearance of Sand Saref, were retooled from a failed publishing venture featuring an eyepatched, pipe-smoking detective named John Law. Law and his shoeshine-boy sidekick, Nubbin, starred in several adventures planned for a new comics series. These completed adventures were eventually adapted into Spirit stories, with John Law's eyepatch being changed to the Spirit's mask, and Nubbin redrawn as Willum Waif or other Spirit support characters.

The original John Law stories were restored and published in Will Eisner's John Law: Dead Man Walking (IDW Publishing, 2004), a collection of stories that also features new adventures by writer-artist Gary Chaloner, starring John Law, Nubbin, and other Eisner creations, including Lady Luck and Mr. Mystic.

Assistants and collaborators[link]

Like most artists working in newspaper comic strips, Eisner after a time employed a studio of assistants who, on any given week's story, might draw or simply ink backgrounds, ink parts of Eisner's main characters (such as clothing or shoes), or as eventually occurred, ghost-draw the strip entirely. Eisner also eventually used ghostwriters, generally in collaboration with him.

Jules Feiffer, who began as an art assistant circa 1946 and later became the primary writer through the strip's end in 1952, recalled, "When I first worked for Will there was John Spranger, who was his penciler and a wonderful draftsman; better than Will. There was Sam Rosen, the lettering man. Jerry Grandenetti came a little after me and did backgrounds, and Jerry had some architectural background. His drawing was stiff but loosened up after a while, but he drew backgrounds and inked them beautifully. And Abe Kanegson, who was my best friend in the office, was a jack-of-all-trades but mostly did lettering and backgrounds after Jerry left. Abe was a mentor to me."^[15]

Eisner's studio also included:^[16][7]

• Art assistants: Bob Powell (1940), Dave Berg (backgrounds, 1940–41), Tex Blaisdell (1940–41), Fred Kida (1941), Alexander Kostuk a.k.a. Alex Koster (1941–43), Jack Cole (1942–43), Jack Keller (backgrounds, 1943), Jules Feiffer (1946–47), Manny Stallman (1947–49), Andre LeBlanc (1950), Al Wenzel (1952)

• Inkers: Alex Kotzky (1941–43), John Belfi (1942–43), Don Komisarow (1943), Robin King (year?), Joe Kubert (1943–44), Jerry Grandenetti, (1948–51), Jim Dixon (1950–51), Don Perlin (1951)

• Letterers: Martin De Muth (years?), Abe Kanegson (years?), Sam Schwartz (1951), Ben Oda (1951)

• Colorists: Jules Feiffer (years?), Chris Christiansen (1951)

• Ghost artists (pencilers): Lou Fine and Jack Cole (variously, during Eisner's World War II service, 1942–45), Jerry Grandenetti (1951), Wally Wood (1952)

• Ghostwriters/writing assistants: Toni Blum (1942), Jack Cole (years?), Manly Wade Wellman and William Woolfolk (variously, during Eisner's World War II service, 1942–45), Klaus Nordling (1946, 1951), Marilyn Mercer (1946), Abe Kanegson (1950), Jules Feiffer (1951–52)

Latter-day Spirit comics[link]

1960s[link]

A five-page Spirit story, set in New York City, appeared as part of a January 9, 1966 article about the Spirit in the New York Herald Tribune.^[11]

Harvey Comics reprinted several Spirit stories in two giant-size, 25-cent comic books published October 1966 and March 1967, each with new Eisner covers.

The first of these two 60-page issues opened with a new seven-page retelling of the Spirit's origin by writer-penciler-inker Eisner (with inking assist by Chuck Kramer). Also new was the text feature "An Interview With the Spirit", credited to Marilyn Mercer; and writer-artist Eisner's two-page featurette "Spirit Lab: Invincible Devices". Seven 1948-1949 Spirit stories were reprinted.

The second issue opened with a new seven-page story by writer-artist Eisner, "Octopus: The Life Story of the King of Crime," giving the heretofore unrevealed origin of the Spirit's archnemesis The Octopus, as well as his given name (Zitzbath Zark). Also new was the two-page text feature "The Spirit Answers Your Mail", and writer-artist Eisner's two-page featurette "The Spirit Lab: The Man From MSD". Reprinted were seven 1948-50 Spirit stories.

1970s[link]

Warren Publishing and later Denis Kitchen's Kitchen Sink Press published extensive reprints, first as large black-and-white magazines (the Warren part of the run eventually having a color section), then as trade paperbacks. The magazines often featured new Eisner covers.

Two new stories were written during this period "The Capistrano Jewels", a four-page story published in the second issue of the Kitchen Sink reprints in 1972; and "The Invader", a 5-page story (reprinted in The Will Eisner Color Treasury). Issue 30 of the Kitchen Sink series features "The Spirit Jam", with a script from Eisner and a few penciled pages, plus contributions from 50 artists.

In 1976, an oddity called "The Spirit Casebook of True Haunted Houses and Ghosts" was published.^{[citation needed]} The Spirit plays the EC host, introducing "true" stories of haunted houses. The Spirit makes a cameo in Vampirella #50.^{[citation needed]}

1980s[link]

Kitchen Sink Press did a complete reprinting of the post-WWII Eisner work in a color comics series. The publisher started another series intended to reprint the stories from the beginning; it lasted only 10 issues.

1990s and beyond[link]

Kitchen Sink also published a series of original Spirit stories in 1996-1997, including contributions from Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Paul Chadwick, Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale and Paul Pope.

In the mid-2000s, DC Comics began reprinting The Spirit chronologically in the company's hardcover Archive series, in an approximately 8x10-inch format, smaller than the Kitchen Sink and Warren publications.

The final Spirit art by the late Eisner appeared in the sixth issue of The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist, from Dark Horse Comics.^{[citation needed]}

DC Comics[link]

The DC Comics one-shot Batman/The Spirit (January 2007), by writer Jeph Loeb and artists Darwyn Cooke and J. Bone fully introduced the Spirit into the DC Universe, although he had previously garnered a brief cameo in Batgirl: Year One. The first issue of the ongoing series The Spirit, written and pencilled by Cooke and inked by J. Bone, debuted the following month. It ran through issue #32 (Aug. 2009), with most running a single 22-page story. The series updated some concepts, with Ellen's Internet skills helping to solve a case, and Ebony White stripped of his racial stereotype characteristics. The team of Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragones became the series' regular writers beginning with issue #14 (March 2008), with Mike Ploog and later Paul Smith providing the artwork.

In other media[link]

Daily strip[link]

From October 1941 to March 1944, there was also a daily, black-and-white newspaper strip of The Spirit. These were later reprinted in several collections. DC's The Spirit Archives Vol. 25 collected all of these strips.

Reprints of the Spirit's adventures ran in Quality Comics and Fiction House publications shortly after their newspaper debuts.

TV movie[link]

The character was the subject of a 1987 television movie starring Sam J. Jones as The Spirit, Nana Visitor as Ellen Dolan, and Garry Walberg as Commissioner Dolan.

Film[link]

The film adaptation The Spirit, written and directed by Frank Miller, was released in theaters by Lionsgate on December 25, 2008. The film stars Gabriel Macht as the Spirit and Samuel L. Jackson as the Octopus.^[17]

Radio[link]

Denis Kitchen, the Eisner estate's agent, said in a July 8, 2006 online interview that a radio series had been in development: "It was pitched to the estate by a couple of producers, one of whom is very experienced with NPR, so we have been back and forth on how that would work. Again, it would be premature to tell you it is going to happen, but it is in serious discussion."^[18]

Collected editions[link]

The comic strips and comics have been collected into a number of volume):

• Will Eisner Color Treasury (1981, Kitchen Sink) (ISBN 0-87816-006-X)
• Spirit Color Album (1981, Kitchen Sink) (ISBN 0-87816-002-7)
• Spirit Color Album, v2 (1983, Kitchen Sink) (ISBN 0-87816-010-8)
• Spirit Color Album, v3 (1983, Kitchen Sink) (ISBN 0-87816-011-6)
• Art of Will Eisner (1989 2nd ed, Kitchen Sink) (ISBN 0-87816-076-0)
• Outer Space Spirit (1989 Kitchen Sink) (ISBN 0-87816-012-4)
• Christmas Spirit (1995 Kitchen Sink) (ISBN 0-87816-309-3)
• Spirit Casebook (199x Kitchen Sink) (ISBN 0-87816-094-9)
• All About P'Gell: Spirit Casebook II (1998 Kitchen Sink) (ISBN 0-87816-492-8)
• The Spirit Archives: (DC Comics)
  • Volume 1 (2000) (ISBN 1-56389-673-7) through Volume 26 (2009)
• The Best of The Spirit (2005 DC Comics) (ISBN 1-4012-0755-3)
• The Spirit Book 1, Collects Batman/The Spirit and The Spirit #1-6 (DC Comics)
• The Spirit Book 2, Collects The Spirit #7-13 (DC Comics)
• The Spirit Book 3, Collects The Spirit #14-20 (DC Comics)
• The Spirit Book 4, Collects The Spirit #21-25 (DC Comics)
• The Spirit Book 5, Collects The Spirit #26-32 (DC Comics)
• The Spirit: Angel Smerti, Collects The Spirit #1-7 (DC Comics)

Notes[link]

References[link]

This section includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (October 2009)

• Will Eisner official site
• Grand Comics Database
• Transcript, Eisner's keynote address at the 2002 University of Florida Conference on Comics and Graphic Novels' Will Eisner Symposium
• Jack Kirby Collector #16 (June 1997): Will Eisner interview
• Archive of Heintjes, Tom. "Will Eisner's The Spirit", AdventureStrips.com. Reprinted from The Spirit: The Origin Years #1-4 (Kitchen Sink Press, May-November 1992). Original page Original page.
• The New York Times Syndicate obituary, by Sarah Boxer
• The Comics Journal #267: Excerpt, "Will Eisner: Having Something to Say" (interview)

External links[link]

• The Spirit at the Open Directory Project
• The Spirit at the Comic Book DB
• The Spirit at the Internet Movie Database
• Tumulka, Wed., ed. Wildwood Cemetery: The Spirit Database. WebCitation archive.</ref>

Further reading[link]

• Andelman, Bob. Will Eisner: A Spirited Life. ISBN 1-59582-011-6. 
• Feiffer, Jules. The Great Comic-Book Heroes. ISBN 1-56097-501-6. 
• Jones, Gerard. Men Of Tomorrow. ISBN 0-434-01402-8. 
• Steranko, Jim (1972). The Steranko History of Comics 2. Supergraphics. 

Charles "Babe" Baron (?) was an organized crime figure in Chicago, Illinois, who, owning a successful car dealership as well as holding the rank of Brigadier-General in the Illinois National Guard, was involved in illegal gambling as a handbook operator for the Chicago Outfit.

Along with Dave Yaras and Lenny Patrick, Baron served as a protege to Democratic Party ward boss Jacob Arvey.^{[citation needed]} Baron was an associate of Meyer Lansky.(see: Peter Dale Scott, 1993:199)^{[clarification needed]} He was also a close associate of Patrick Hoy, a Henry Crown employee of General Dynamics who was later able to arrange a job for Sidney Korshak at the Hilton Hotels.^[1]

Twice arrested for murder, including that of bootlegger James Walsh, whom he shot and killed following a prize fight in 1929, and of North Side Gang financier 'Smiling' Gus Winkler, on October 9, 1933,[1] Baron was identified as an associate of John Roselli during the Kefauver Hearings, in the 1950s.^[1]

According to Jack Ruby and Baron associate Tony Zoppi, Baron knew U.S. Air Force General Curtis LeMay.(see: Peter Dale Scott, 1993:199, 355)^{[clarification needed]}

A former general manager of the Havana Riviera in pre-revolutionary Cuba, Baron was one of the first to be granted a gaming license by the Gaming Control Act, in 1960, and served as the official greeter of the Sands Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, under Joseph "Doc" Stacher.[2]

References[link]

Constructs such as ibid., loc. cit. and idem are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. (October 2010)

Further reading[link]

• Rothman, Hal. Neon Metropolis: how Las Vegas started the twenty-first century. London: Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0-415-92612-2
• Scott, Peter Dale. Deep Politics and the Death of JFK. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. ISBN 0-520-08410-1

Daniel Jay Millman (born February 22, 1946) is an American author and lecturer in the self-help field.

Early Life[link]

Millman was born in Los Angeles, California, to Herman and Vivian Millman (both deceased), and has one older sister, Diane Millman. Much of his early life included active pursuits such as modern dance, martial arts, and then trampoline, tumbling, and gymnastics. During his senior year at John Marshall High School (Los Angeles), Millman won the United States Gymnastics Federation (USGF) national title on the trampoline and was voted Senior Athlete of the Year. While a freshman at U.C. Berkeley, he won the 1964 Trampoline World Championships in London. While attending U.C. Berkeley, he earned All-American honors and won an NCAA Championships on vaulting (1964) and a USGF championship in floor exercise (1966). He represented the United States in the 1966 Maccabiah Games, winning four gold medals in gymnastics.^[1] He was voted Senior U.C. Berkeley Athlete of the Year, graduating with a B.A. degree in Psychology in 1968.

Career[link]

In 1968, Millman served as director of gymnastics at Stanford University, where he coached U.S. Olympian Steve Hug and brought the Stanford team to national prominence. During Millman's tenure at Stanford, he trained in Aikido, eventually earning a shodan (black belt) ranking, and studied T'ai chi (Taiji) and other martial arts.

In 1972 Millman joined the faculty at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio as an assistant professor of physical education. At Oberlin, on a travel-research grant from the college, Millman traveled to San Francisco, where he completed the Arica 40-Day Intensive Training, then to Hawaii, India, and Hong Kong, where he practiced various disciplines including yoga and martial arts.

In 1985, Millman began to produce audio and video programs, and to present seminars and professional keynotes.^[2] Due to the varied topics of his books, his work is difficult to label, but is generally connected to the human potential movement.^[3]

In 2006, his first book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, was adapted to a film, "Peaceful Warrior," with Nick Nolte, distributed by Lionsgate Films and released by Universal Pictures in 2007.^[4]

Personal Life[link]

Dan Millman and his wife Joy live in Northern California. They have three grown daughters and two grandsons.

Works[link]

• 1979: Whole Body Fitness
• 1980: Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A book that changes lives
• 1985: The Warrior Athlete (rev. ed. of Whole Body Fitness)
• 1990: Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior
• 1991: Secret of the Peaceful Warrior (children - illustrated by Taylor Bruce)
• 1992: No Ordinary Moments: A peaceful warrior's guide to daily life
• 1993: Quest for the Crystal Castle (children - illustrated by Taylor Bruce)
• 1994: The Life You Were Born to Live: A guide to finding your life purpose
• 1995: The Laws of Spirit: A tale of transformation
• 1998: Everyday Enlightenment: The twelve gateways to personal growth
• 1999: Body Mind Mastery (rev. edition of The Warrior Athlete)
• 2000: Living on Purpose: Straight answers to life's tough questions
• 2006: The Journeys of Socrates
• 2007: Wisdom of the Peaceful Warrior: A companion to the book that changes lives
• 2009: Bridge Between Worlds: Extraordinary experiences that changed lives
• 2010: Peaceful Warrior: The Graphic Novel (illustrated by Andrew Winegarner)
• 2011: The Four Purposes of Life: Finding meaning and direction in a changing world^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Peaceful Warrior's Way - Dan Millman's personal website.

Interviews

• Dan Millman - Video Interview with Conscious Media Network
• Interview with Spiritual Endeavors discusses training philosophy, fiction in book
• Working and Living Life Smarter Conference - keynoted by Dan Millman (November 2006)