Reviews (1)

A great read!
An interesting and compelling read, providing great insight to the complications of Earl Warren. A must for anyone who enjoys American or California history, or the Law. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1891-1974    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Judges    5. Law    6. Lawyers & Judges    7. Legal History    8. Political    9. Supreme Court    10. United States    11. United States - 20th Century    12. United States.    13. Warren, Earl,    14. Biography & Autobiography / Lawyers & Judges   

Reviews (7)

Breathtaking in Concept, Scope and Execution
"Our Nation's Archive: The History of the United States in Documents" is a phenomenal one-of-a-kind historical compendium that will thrill not only the historian and student, but also any citizen mildly interested in our country's evolution.
Superb
This is a book for those who are interested in the history of this country and want to read that history from the original documents rather than someone's interpretation of those documents.I suggest that, serially, you look for an area that interests you and then enjoy the stimulation of reading the original thoughts on your own.Other reviews that are critical apparently prefer reading academic media with plenty of footnotes.You'll learn a lot more from reading any part of this book than you will reading almost any academic article including all of its footnotes.You'll also come away with more appreciation for the spirit of the documents by reading them in the original.

Good Primary Source Guide
Excellent book of primary sources.The author did not intend to put whole documents in this book.If you feel like you need the whole document, most of these can be found on the web. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. History    2. History - U.S.    3. History: American    4. Legal History    5. Political History    6. Sources    7. United States    8. United States - General    9. History / United States / General   

Subjects:  1. Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice    2. Law    3. Legal History    4. Legal Reference / Law Profession    5. Natural Resources    6. Water rights    7. West (U.S.)   

Reviews (19)

Important read for anyone interested in American Jurisprudence
Gideon's Trumpet is an account of Clarence Earl Gideon -- an indigent prisoner who took his Habeas case to the Supreme Court and spawned the 60's federal and state movement to establish legal representation for the outcast. His case, Gideon vs. Wainwright (1963), resulted in the Supreme Court's unanimous decision to overturn a 21-year-old ruling in Betts vs. Brady, and secured the right of legal representation for the accused who do not have the means to pay for a counsel in the United States.
Great Legal History
This outstanding book dissects Gideon v. Wainright, the landmark 1963 Supreme Court case which held that indigent criminal defendants are entitled to legal counsel at government expense.Lewis tells the story from the viewpoints of the lawyers, the judges, and Gideon himself.He mixes legal history with human interest stories; his writing is unfailingly clear; and he provides a wonderful primer on Supreme Court litigation.The particular issues in Gideon are no longer of burning public interest, but the broad message that our criminal justice system must protect basic human rights is more relevant than ever in 2005.Lawyers and laymen alike will enjoy the book.Six stars.

Well worth the time.
I was required to read "Gideon" as part of my summer reading in preparation for my first year of law school, and I am very glad that I did.
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Subjects:  1. General    2. Gideon, Clarence Earl    3. History - General History    4. Legal History    5. Right to counsel    6. Sociology    7. Trials, litigation, etc    8. United States    9. Wainwright, Louie L    10. Wainwright, Louie L.    11. Law / Legal History   

Reviews (1)

The verdict is in...this book is great!
How did the jury trial system get started?
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Subjects:  1. History    2. Law    3. Legal History    4. Legal Reference / Law Profession    5. Trial Practice    6. Trials    7. Law / Legal History   

Reviews (21)

Iron determination
Like some other reviewers I came across this book after seeing the movie North Country.The movie though is just good entertainment pulling at the heartstrings and very loosely based on the legal problems of single mother Lois Jenson.
A must read
A story of great courage and resolve, of working conditions beyond the pale, and the vicissitudes of the courts. Well written, in journalistic style, this is a page-turner, as well as being thoroughly researched, and factually accurate.

Class Action
This is by far one of the best books I have ever read. This is something our school kids should be required to read as well. The 2 ladies who wrote this book did an excellent job of telling Lois Jenson's real story. Her story, while tragic, needs to be told. The movie doesn't do this book justice. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Gender & the Law    2. Gender Studies    3. Labor & Employment    4. Labor And Employment Law    5. Legal History    6. Social Science    7. Sociology    8. Sociology Of Women    9. Women's Studies - General    10. Social Science / Gender Studies   

Reviews (2)

History - To The EXTREME
My first reaction after finishing the book, was to ask myself how anyone could have enough time to put so much information together.As the cover states, this "book touches every conceivable aspect of law...it is a stupendous achievement."The author takes an insurmountable task and first breaks it up into four sections, Part 1: American Law in the colonial Period, Part 2: Revolution to the Middle of the 19th century, Part 3: Close of the 19th century, Part 4: The 20th century.Within each part he segments chapters into readable legal topics.(i.e. Corporations, Crime and Punishment, etc).In that way, the reader gets an understanding of the period and how it effects all sorts of law, before going onto another time period and seeing how other areas of the law grew and affected other areas.
readable and worthwhile
If this edition is at all like the 2nd edition (what I am inferring from) then it will be a very readable history of American law up to 1900. It's something of a social history given the wealth of information on how law affected the family, the early commerce of the Republic, and industrial growth (and suffering it caused, see the chapter on torts). It is something of a social history. The early chapters on colonial law are a bit tough but are worth comparing to the changes that would follow. If you're at all interested in the law and how U.S. society evolved (and did harm, at times) this book and its sequel, American Law in the 20th Century, is very much worthwhile. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Government - Judicial Branch    3. Government - U.S. Government    4. History    5. Law    6. Legal History    7. Legal Reference / Law Profession    8. United States    9. Law / General   

Reviews (5)

Keep Your Powder Dry
The second amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." A straight forward enough statement that this book shows has been interpreted in ways that are far from what its original drafters intended. When the amendment was written, the drafters distinguished between the concept of common defense and the concept of self-defense, as established in English Common Law. The amendment was originally written to prevent the newly created federal government from disarming the state militias that were considered the first line of defense against foreign invasions, civil disorder, and usurpation of power by the federal government. At the time, "well regulated militia" meant organized citizen soldiers trained and equipped to provide a common defense. The rights to self-defense and the weapons necessary to that type of defense were left to the discretion of the states. As this book explains with admirable clarity, and using actual case studies, this distinction between common and self-defense has gradually been lost as the U.S. itself has changed over the last two hundred years. Anyone wishing a real understanding of the second amendment and the many unresolved conflicts that it has generated would do well to read this book.

Well-balanced and insightful
You would think that before writing a review of a book, "reviewers" would take the time to read it. (See comments by 'A guy in PA')
Readers Should Be Aware...
Readers of this work should be aware that Saul Cornell's "Second Amendment Research Center" is funded by the Joyce Foundation.
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Subjects:  1. 2nd Amendment    2. Constitution.    3. Constitutional    4. Firearms    5. History    6. History: American    7. Law and legislation    8. Legal History    9. Legal Reference / Law Profession    10. Militia    11. United States    12. United States - General    13. United States.    14. Abortion    15. History / United States / General    16. Law | Constitutional Law    17. Social law    18. USA   

Reviews (16)

Terrifying Justice Department Double Think
Mr Yoo moves on from his earlier arguments that torture falls at a point slightly short of physical death, organ failure or loss of limb. Mr Yoo makes some interesting if devastating points with his new theories. The President's war powers, he argues, allow him to do, basically, whatever he wants. The President may, if he chooses, crush the genitals of children, maim, torture or kill civilians. In this respect one might remember that Bush ordered an air strike on the house occupied by the infant grandchildren of Saddam Hussein AFTER the end of the Iraq war and even though the house was surrounded by US troops. The President is limited, according to Mr Yoo, only by how he CHOOSES to interpret International Treaties and as he has the power to repudiate such treaties or ignore them entirely (as in the International Human Rights for the Child Treaty, the Geneva Convention or the Treaty of Vienna,) then, this means that presidential power is absolute EVEN if despotic criminal or tyrannical. Mr Yoo appears now to say that the President and his henchmen, cronies and agencies MAY indeed use indiscriminant torture. Mr Yoo however does not adequately explain how the President can thus overturn congressional treaty ratification. As what constitutes a 'time of war' is also up to the President and does not rely on any 'legal' declaration of war (which is a matter of international law to which the US is thus not subject,) then the US may have, effectively, a Despot Emperor for President. Does the 'War on Drugs' thus give the President the same wartime powers as he asserts for his 'War on Terror' - an undeclared war on no particular nation state? Is the US thus always in a state of war? This is interesting, not just semantically, as the District and Supreme Courts appear to agree with Mr Yoo's interpretation, blocking cases connected with this on grounds of national security whilst Congress does not appear to care. Perhaps Clinton should have used Mr Yoo's arguments in the Monical Lewinsky scandal and impeachment hearings. War powers might have thus allowed him to do whatever he wanted with his cigar and to lie about it in the national interest. The problem with Mr Yoo's argument is that Checks and Balances thus no longer appear to exist. Interestingly if one applies Mr Yoo's arguments to their logical end he becomes an eloquent advocate for terrorism or for the Holocaust where the ends justify the use of any means, however horrible. Of course, either this is pretty much nonsense and makes toilet paper of the Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta, democracy and human rights OR the truth is more terrifying and the US is now a Stalinist or Nazi state. I suspect Mr Yoo could be subject to arrest as a war criminal should he ever leave the United States and visit a civilised country???

Yoo has no clue!
The 2 biggest mistakes made by government in my lifetime are Congress giving away war powers in 1965 and 2002.The constitution holds that declaring war is the responsibility of the Congress.If the Executive has grounds for war let him/her present them and Ccongress vote.Twice I have seen Congress abdicate this important power with disasterous results.This is just one of many examples why Yoo has no clue.

This book's point about constitutional checks and balances were once taught in 8th grade civics class.
The outrage this book caused on publication is a sign of the incredible ignorance so prevalent these days about was once common knowledge--that the powers of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches exist in parallel under the elegant system of checks and balances of the Constitution, each with their separate skill set and functions.This book is a necessary defense of the traditional constitutional idea that the executive branch has primacy in matters of war, national security, and foreign policy.It is sad that otherwise sensible people like Neal Katyal and Stuart Taylor should tout outre ideas about the Constitution as a big sandbag over the head of the President most especially in war, national security and foreign policy, as if this idea, which is strictly the invention of the left, were Con Law 101.It is so Nixon era.But there you go.The "me generation" took over the academy, threw out all the Rembrandts, and filled it up with their Hello Kitty and Marilyn tchotchkes. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Foreign relations    3. Government - U.S. Government    4. International Relations - Treaties    5. Law and legislation    6. Legal History    7. Legal Reference / Law Profession    8. Political Freedom & Security - General    9. Political Science    10. Politics/International Relations    11. Taxation    12. United States    13. War and emergency powers    14. Constitutional & administrative law    15. Diplomacy    16. Political Science / Treaties    17. USA    18. Warfare & Defence   

Reviews (1)

Profound book about Great Law Cases
I simply cannot heap enough praise. Oh...how I wished I had this audiobook - of nineteen disks - when I studied criminal justice and trial practice in law school.
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Subjects:  1. Courts    2. Criminal Law - General    3. Criminal justice, Administration of    4. History    5. Law    6. Legal History    7. Legal Reference / Law Profession    8. Practice Of Law    9. Sources    10. Trial Practice    11. Trials    12. United States    13. Law / General   

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Constitutional history    3. History    4. History - U.S.    5. History: American    6. Law and legislation    7. Legal History    8. Legal status of slaves in free states    9. Slavery    10. United States    11. United States - 19th Century    12. United States - Antebellum Era    13. Constitutional & administrative law    14. History / United States / 19th Century    15. Jurisprudence & General Issues    16. Slavery & emancipation    17. Social history    18. USA    19. c 1700 to c 1800   

Editorial Review

If you haven't seen the film version of Read more

Reviews (54)

"...A trivial thing full of humbuggery and hyprocrisy"
The Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925 combined two great American virtues: 1.) Individual Rights and 2.) The need to make a quick buck.One of the aspects of Larson's book that really comes through is how staged the whole trial was.From the initial meeting of the town fathers with Scopes to convince him to be a Defendant, to the State's decision to nolle prosse the conviction after it was overturned on a technicality, most everything was merely thespian.One of the most insightful stories that Larson relates is when the team of ACLU defense lawyers arrived in Dayton for trial preparation, a young man started to help them with their luggage out of the trunk.One of the lawyers shouted: "Hey boy, what are you doing with those suitcases!"Little did the lawyer know that that boy was John Scopes, the teacher that was charged with teaching evolution in a Tennessee public school.As Larson writes: "The defenders, along with everyone else, had forgotten the defendant."The author writes in this great concise book that the Scopes Monkey trial was less about Scopes, Darrow or Bryan and more about emerging fundamentalism versus a growing American concern of individual rights and liberties.As such, Dayton and John Scopes were essentially bit players in a staged battle between forces that still determine how Americans feel and think to this day.Not only does Larson concern himself with the broader sociological effects of the trial, he also talks about the ACLU's and the prosecutions trial strategy, which, as a lawyer, I found fascinating.Contemporary history has interpreted the Scopes Trial as the high water mark of Fundamentalism, being that the Butler Act and other similar legislation has been struck down as unconstitutional."Summer" makes this very plain that this in fact was the opening salvo in the Fundamentalist battle and not the death throes.It is not a stretch to argue that the beginnings of the Mega-Church and the Fundamentalist college movement began in Dayton in 1925.Thus, as H.L. Mencken wrote that year: the fundamentalists and "Bryan started something that it will not be easy to stop."

truly a beautiful work
Public figures and interests can only hope to receive fair treatment in the historical record. To that end the mold from which Professor Larson was wrought should be exercised many times if that would result in more erudition of this quality. This book is the product of a remarkable breadth and depth of research, investigation and fair and balanced treatment of a subject that inherently evokes personal bias. And yet it is concise in its presentation, and is thoroughly readable and engaging. It is truly a beautiful work.

The beginning of the controversy
There is probably one statement which both fans and foes of America can agree on; America is one of the most unique countries in this world.One way in which America is unique is that it is of the few countries in the world in which the theory of evolution is not widely accepted outside of the scientific community.This even though America has one of the longest histories of grappling with this scientific issue.This book provides a great introduction to this controversy within America, and focuses on the keystone event that brought evolution to the forefront of American politics; the Scopes Trial, that first great public trial of 20th century America.
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Subjects:  1. Anthropology - General    2. Evolution    3. History - U.S.    4. History: American    5. Law and legislation    6. Legal History    7. Life Sciences - Evolution    8. Scopes, John Thomas    9. Social Science    10. Study and teaching    11. Trials, litigation, etc    12. United States    13. United States - 20th Century/20s    14. American history: from c 1900 -    15. Philosophy of religion    16. Social law    17. USA   

Editorial Review

Kermit L. Hall, Dean of the College of Humanities, Executive Dean of the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences, and Professor of History and Law at Ohio State University, is well versed in American constitutional and legal history, and has a skillful touch when it comes to editing the contributions of well over 100 legal scholars (from attorneys and state supreme court justices to professors of law, political science, constitutional history, and government), producing a reference tome that invites the attention of lay legal beagles, students of American history, and practicing members of the legal profession.Read more

Reviews (10)

Useful reference book
The "Oxford Guide to US Supreme Court Decisions" is not much more than that. It gives an extremely expansive overview of all US Supreme Court cases that can remotely be considered important, throughout the period of its existence. Every case contains information on the reference number, the composition of the majority, concurrence and dissents, and a summary of what the case or controversy was about by a legal scholar.
Oxford Guire to US Supreme Court Decisions
This is a handy reference to quickly correlate discussions of past decisions in the many articles on supreme court actions as well as during the confirmation process. It is a good book for every supreme court watcher to have on the shelf.

Great Introduction Book
This book is perfect if you are interested in important decisions of the Supreme court but do not want to spend hours reading arguments, decisions and dissents in a civics book or findlaw.Oxford explains what happened in the case, why it is important and what the Supreme Court's decision did for American law.
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Subjects:  1. Constitutional law    2. Courts - General    3. Digests    4. Encyclopedias    5. Government - Federal    6. Law    7. Legal History    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. Reference    10. United States    11. United States - General    12. Civil law (general works)    13. History, American    14. Law / Reference    15. Law reports    16. USA   

Reviews (1)

"On Lawfare": Short and Focused
In the Shield of Achilles Phillip Bobbitt has recently written on the mutual relation between law and strategy. In the realm of emergency, the distinction between the two becomes relatively thin. Bobbitt's book demonstrates that at certain times, strategic "imperatives" have generated legal regimes. A point that Bobbit has overlooked, however, is the use of law as a strategic instrument. This is what might be called, not so much the instrumentalization, but the "weaponization" of law. In this short book, David Kennedy refers to what military commanders call "lawfare", the use of law, particularly humanitarian law, as a shield and a sword, by organized militaries, partisans, insurgents, and terrorists alike. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. International    2. Law    3. Legal History    4. Legal Reference / Law Profession    5. Military    6. Military - General    7. Public Policy - General    8. War (International law)    9. International Law    10. International humanitarian law    11. Law / Military    12. Political Science and International Relations   

Reviews (2)

The Proper Role for the Supreme Court
Given all the hoopla about whether the federal courts have exceeded their proper boundaries, including recent threats by House and Senate Republicans to retaliate for the Terri Schiavo decisions, it seems an opportune time to consider what is the appropriate role for the Supreme Court in our democratic pollitical system.Jeffrey Rosen's book should contribute mightily toward that end.Rosen writes as a George Washington University law professor for the law reviews; serves as legal editor of "The New Republic"; and manages to write important articles for general publications, such as his recent article in "The Atlantic" entitled "The Day After Roe."So he is very effective at explaining legal concepts for a general audience, for whom this book is designed.
Advance Praise for The Most Democratic Branch

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Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Courts    3. Government - Judicial Branch    4. Government - U.S. Government    5. History    6. Judges    7. Legal History    8. Legal System    9. Political Science    10. Political questions and judicial power    11. Politics / Current Events    12. Politics/International Relations    13. United States    14. Courts & procedure    15. International Law    16. Law | Constitutional Law    17. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    18. Political Science / Government / Judicial Branch    19. Political structure & processes    20. Political structures: democracy   

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Executive power    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History - U.S.    6. History: American    7. Law and legislation    8. Legal History    9. Political History    10. Slavery    11. United States    12. United States - 19th Century    13. United States - Civil War    14. War and emergency powers    15. History / United States / 19th Century   

Subjects:  1. Civil Rights    2. Constitutional    3. Courts - General    4. Government - U.S. Government    5. Law    6. Legal History    7. Legal Reference / Law Profession    8. Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights    9. Supreme Court    10. United States    11. United States.    12. Citizenship & nationality law    13. Civil rights & citizenship    14. Courts & procedure    15. USA   

Editorial Review

The savvy, chatty author ofRead more

Reviews (17)

Good for history, bad for legal analysis
I give the author credit for explicitly revealing his biases in the book's opening pages.The author is a war protesting, left-leaning, liberal, and is a proponent of a "living Constitution" that conforms to his own ideas of a perfect society, rather than a view that treats the Constitution as a legal text.I strongly disagree with his views, but because he does not present his biases as fact, but instead openly warns the reader, I was able to continue reading.
We live by symbols
This is the book that provides an immense and readable amount of historical and political background informationon the evolution of the interpretation of the US Constitution from its very beginning until the end of the XX century. Constitutional law is seen through its cases throughout history and its main protagonists: the judges of the Supreme Court and those who brought their cases. It also shows that legalist interpretation of the Constitution has not followed the pedant use of syllogistic reasoning from the precedential principles set forth in previous similar cases, like Christopher Columbus Langdell, instead, had taught at Harvard Law School in the XIX century. When the Constitution was interpreted as if it were a pure and independent science, leaving nothing to the political context or the common sense, it created monsters that today look embarrassing. However, since the law was interpreted according to the sensitivities of the ruling class at the time, too, the output still remains curious today. Both ways, the Constitution was read for the benefit of the privileged. The book does not deal only with famous cases such as "Dred Scott v. Sandford", "Plessy v. Ferguson", "Brown v. Board of Education", "Miranda v. Arizona", "Roe v. Wade", but it deals with many more that cover many controversial political subjects of the last 200 years. Here an anecdote in the book that look funny in itself. Lawyers from the Dept. of Justice brought two thousand prosecutions under the Espionage Act. The most ironic is United States v. Spirit of '76, against the producer of a movie about the American Revolution, Robert Goldstein, because his depiction of British atrocities against the colonists tended "to question the good faith of our ally, Great Britain", according to the judge, who imposed a ten-year sentence on the producer. It is a highly recommended book for historians, political scientists, and, why not, lawyers and filmmakers.

Stimulating interpretation of the history of the Court
In this book, Peter Irons offers a refreshingly stimulating interpretation of the history of the Supreme Court.His approach, which focuses on understanding the personalities on the bench and behind the cases, serves as an invaluable reminder that laws and created and interpreted by people who bring their views and experiences into this process. Irons begins this process with himself; in the introduction he expresses his belief that "the Constitution's basic command is that every person must be accorded the dignity he or she deserves as a human being."(xv)This view serves as the basis for his analysis in the book.Read more

Subjects:  1. Constitutional Law    2. Courts - Supreme Court    3. History    4. History: American    5. Law    6. Law and politics    7. Legal History    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. Political aspects    10. Supreme Court    11. U.S. Supreme Court    12. United States    13. United States.    14. Political Science / General   

Reviews (29)

Don't waste your time
There is nothing in this book worth your time.The book is obviously the result of a publisher offering a book deal to Crier based on her television exposure, hopeful that a familiar face on the cover will sell some books.Add a sensational title and hope for the best.I guess it works because I read it.