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Convicted as a spy, but consistent in proclaiming his innocence thereafter, Alger Hiss remains a controversial figure in history. FindLaw book reviewer and author Stanley Kutler reviews a new biography of Hiss by Edward White -- praising it for offering a fresh take on a well-known debate. As Kutler describes it, White does not focus solely on the question: Was Hiss really guilty? (White concludes he was.) After considering this issue, White goes further, asking another question: Why did Hiss maintain his innocence so persuasively for so many, for so long, in the face of strong evidence of his guilt?
Friday, Aug. 06, 2004
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FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Rodger Citron weighs in on a recent biography of an unusual and admirable figure -- William Sloane Coffin Jr. As Citron explains, Coffin -- a minister who was intensely involved in politics in the 1960s and beyond -- has previously had his political history chronicled, but this book goes into his interesting personal history, as well. The book is also notable because the author procured cooperation from the subject and his family.
Friday, Jul. 23, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and national security attorney Mark Zaid reviews former CIA inspector general Frederick Hitz's recent book, The Great Game, which contrasts spy novels with real-life accounts of spying. Zaid assesses the book as a good introduction for those unfamiliar with the world of espionage, but a disappointment for readers with deep prior knowledge of the subject. He also notes a few missed opportunities for interesting inquiries into the spy novel/spy reality dynamic.
Friday, Jul. 09, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and human rights attorney Noah Leavitt reviews Harvard professor Michael Ignatieff's recent book on how democracies should cope with terrorism, how they do cope with it in practice, and how they can both address terrorism, and retain civil liberties. Leavitt focuses, in particular, on several major prescriptions of Ignatieff's: Retain judicial review, maintain a climate of openness, and never resort to torture. Leavitt argues that the Bush Administration has violated each of these prescriptions.
Friday, Jun. 25, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Matt Herrington assesses a new book by Marc Sageman collecting a great deal of factual material about terrorism and terrorists. Suggesting that the West will never defeat terrorism until it better understands it, Sageman dispels some of the myths about terrorists and terrorism, and offer predictions about how Al Qaeda attacks will evolve -- though one prediction, as Herrington notes, was contradicted by the Madrid bombings.
Friday, Jun. 18, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and Rutgers tax law professor Neil Buchanan assesses reporter David Cay Johnston's new book, Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else. Buchanan argues that, as Johnston's book illustrates, tax law is an area fraught with myths, misconceptions, and ideological distortions.
Friday, Jun. 11, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer, attorney and author Elaine Cassel reviews a recent book by University of Virginia law and history professor Michael Klarman that offers a new, interesting take on Brown v. Board of Education. As Cassel explains, Klarman sees Brown as an instance of the Supreme Court's Justices' mirroring a growing moral feeling on the part of the public. Klarman also suggests that, more generally, the Court will often tend to mirror public moral sentiment. Cassel tests this contention on a number of different areas of constitutional law.
Friday, Jun. 04, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Sam Williamson reviews Sports Illustrated reporter Alan Shipnuck's recent book, The Battle For Augusta National, which focuses on the events and personalities relating to the controversy over whether women golfers would be allowed to join Augusta National Golf Club, the host of the Masters Tournament. In Williamson's view, this interesting, well-reported story may not have justified a whole book, as opposed to an article; he explains why.
Friday, May. 28, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Roger Newman discusses an interesting new book by Hofstra law professor Norman Silber on lawyer Philip Elman. Elman's place in American legal history derives from his close friendship with -- and clerkship with -- Felix Frankfurter, as well as his service in the Solicitor General's office and at the Federal Trade Commission. As Newman explains, for the book Silber "adapted the transcripts of a series of interviews he conducted for the Columbia Oral History Project in the early 1980s into a seamless memoir written in Elman's voice -- and Silber has also added extensive, helpful interpretive commentary."
Friday, May. 21, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Kevin Doyle assesses a recent book on constitutional adjudication by former Solicitor General and state Supreme Court Justice, and now professor of law, Charles Fried. Taking three areas of constitutional law as examples, Doyle explains how, in each case, Fried's views track or diverge from conventional wisdom. In particular, Fried offers an original take on free speech doctrine that emphasizes "freedom of the mind."
Friday, May. 14, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and human rights attorney Joanne Mariner reviews Clinton Administration human rights official and self-described "human rights hawk" John Shattuck's recent book, Freedom on Fire. The book details Shattuck's experiences with trying to make human rights progress despite bureaucratic infighting and other obstacles, and offers specific analyses of how the Administration grappled with Haiti, Rwanda, Bosnia, and China. Mariner comments on his efforts, and notes whether the Iraq War would fulfill his criteria for humanitarian intervention.
Friday, May. 07, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and U. Washington law professor Anita Ramasastry assesses a recent collection of essays and other materials that address the question: Can U.S. civil lawsuits be a part of efforts against terrorism? Ramasastry surveys the current state of the law, as described in the essays, and explores the theoretical arguments made by Professor Ruth Wedgwood, and the collection's editor, Professor John Norton Moore.
Friday, Apr. 30, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer, attorney, and author Elaine Cassel reviews a recent book by Village Voice reporter Jennifer Gonnerman, Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett. Cassel praises Gonnerman for affording insight into the problems that the many, many Americans who have been incarcerated -- often for first or minor offenses -- face when they return to society. As Cassel explains, Gonnerman focuses on the experience of a particular woman, Elaine Bartlett, who served sixteen years in New York prison for a first-offense drug carrier conviction.
Friday, Apr. 23, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and legal affairs reporter Seth Stern weighs in on prominent cyberlawyer Lawrence Lessig's latest book, Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. In this book, as Stern explains, Lessig goes beyond his usual terrain, the Internet, to make a broad argument about the disappearance of the public domain as copyrights become lengthier, and more easily enforceable.
Friday, Apr. 16, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer, attorney, and author Edward Lazarus reviews the controvesrial recent book on the George W. Bush Administration by FindLaw columnist and former counsel to the president John Dean. Lazarus takes issue with Dean's contention that the Bush White House compares unfavorably even with the Nixon White House. But Lazarus finds much to praise in Dean's specific and knowlegeable account of why he believes the Bush White House's penchant for secrecy and, he argues, its pattern of misrepresentation, are Nixonian.
Friday, Apr. 09, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Matt Herrington assesses Harvard philosophy professor Frederick Schauer's recent defense of why generalizations can be good, in his book Profiles, Probabilities and Stereotypes. Schauer contends that since generalization and "profiling" are inevitable, we should try to make the bases for them as transparent as possible -- and Herrington explains how the theory might play out in controversial war-on-terrorism settings such as scrutiny of airline passengers.
Friday, Apr. 02, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and Cardozo law professor Marci Hamilton contrasts two very different books on the Catholic Church clergy sexual abuse scandal. The first is Karol Jackowski's The Silence We Keep: A Nun's View of the Catholic Priest Scandal. As the title suggests, Jackowski is a nun who brings a religious and historical perspective to the scandal. The second is reporter David France's Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal -- a chronological account of the unfolding of events related to the scandal.
Friday, Mar. 26, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Sam Williamson assesses Brad Meltzer's latest legal thrilled, The Zero Game. Based on the idea that those who can influence legislation, are also literally betting on it, the thriller follows two friends and fellow Capitol Hill staffers who get themselves into trouble with just such betting. Williamson contends that Meltzer's convincing portrayal of the world of D.C. lobbyists and staffers puts this thriller a cut above other, similar books.
Friday, Mar. 19, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Alan Baron reviews Roy Jenkins's recent book, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In his assessment, Jenkins's book is as incisive as it is brief. The book covers FDR's early years, his marriage, his presidency, and his role in World War II, and on each topic, Baron explains, Jenkins's take is smart and insightful.
Friday, Mar. 12, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Gerald Russello discusses journalist Lou Cannon's recent book on Ronald Reagan, which focuses on his early years and years as California governor. Russello praises Cannon's for covering Reagan's flaws as well as his virtues, and offering a comprehensive look at the way these years functioned as a prelude to his Presidency.
Friday, Mar. 05, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Rodger Citron assesses a recent book by David Maraniss which counterposes two Vietnam War era events: an ambush of a United States infantry battalion in the jungle of Vietnam, and an antiwar protest against Dow Chemical Company at the University of Wisconsin that culminated in a bloody confrontation with the Madison police. Citron praises Maraniss's accounts of both, and explain how his book fits in the context of other works about the era.
Friday, Feb. 27, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Matt Herrington assesses a recent collection of essays on the stories behind famous constitutional law precedents -- from the lauded, such as Marbury v. Marbury, to the reviled, such as the Dred Scott decision. The collection, entitled Constitutional Law Stories was edited by FindLaw columnist and Columbia law professor Michael Dorf, and offers examples of the work of both eminent and emerging legal scholars.
Friday, Feb. 20, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Peter Lurie assesses Campaigning Online, a recent book on the Intenet's relationships to elections in the United States. Lurie explains why, based on empirical evidence collected by the book's authors, hopes that that Internet would transform U.S. elections seem to be at least partially off the mark. Lurie focuses, in particular, on the debate over the "echo chamber" effect, which arises when campaign sites tend to preach only to the converted.
Friday, Feb. 13, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and former counsel to the President John Dean makes the case that Robert Rubin's new memoir (written with Jacob Weisberg) of his Clinton Administration days is not only excellent, but a true must read. Dean contends that the book persuasively establishes the virtues not only of Rubin's economic judgment, but also of President Clinton's. He also argues that President Bush's economic decisionmaking compares unfavorably to that of both Rubin and Clinton.
Friday, Feb. 06, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Laura Hodes discusses the recent legal novel Daughter's Keeper, by Harvard Law-trained novelist Ayelet Waldman. Hodes contends that Waldman's work strikes a masterful balance -- managing both to offer keen insight into the working of the law (here, the drug laws), and to sketch moving portraits of family relationships.
Friday, Jan. 30, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Sam Williamson assesses a recent novel by William Martin that centers on Harvard and its history. The novel focuses on the story of a lost Shakespeare play that ends up in the hands of Harvard's founder. Williamson -- himself a Harvard law grad -- contends that the novel is much too Harvard-centric even for alums, and fails to provide a satisfying solution to its central mystery.
Friday, Jan. 23, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Mark Zaid assesses Steve Oney's recent, comprehensive look at the early Twentieth Century murders both of Mary Phagan and of the man who was accused of killing her, Leo Frank. Frank -- who may well have been innocent -- was convicted and sentenced to death; his sentence was later commuted to life, but a lynching party subsequently murdered him. Zaid explains the larger historical context of the two murder cases, and notes how much Oney has added to this frequently-told story -- including Oney's listing of the names of those who participating in the lynching of Frank.
Friday, Jan. 16, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Matt Herrington assesses John Dean's revisionist account of the Harding Presidency, one in a series of volumes on American Presidents edited by historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Dean's work counters both the idea that Harding was our worst President, and the belief that he was personally involved in his Administration's corruption. It also covers Harding's surprisingly modern campaign strategies.
Friday, Jan. 09, 2004
FindLaw book reviewer and human rights attorney Noah Leavitt reviews an unusual lawyer's memoir by Robert Precht, who defended one of the men implicated in -- and later convicted in -- the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. As Leavitt explains, Precht's memoir, unlike many other lawyers', is more self-castigating than self-complimentary; it bravely explores the emotional and psychological difficulties in representing someone accused of such a heinous crime, and also admits the way careerism can affect a lawyer's representation of his client.
Friday, Dec. 19, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer, 9/11 Commission Vice-President, and President of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Lee Hamilton assesses David Hamburg's recent work on conflict prevention. Hamburg covers topics ranging from the lessons of World War II, to the value of preventive action and early warning, to the need for international cooperation, and more.
Friday, Dec. 12, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Rodger Citron reviews a new book entitled Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution. Citron's discusses two aspects of the work in particular: Its attention to the history and cultural context surrounding the Brown decision, and its insight into the controversy over how great Justice Felix Frankfurter's role in the decision actually was.
Friday, Dec. 05, 2003
FindLaw book review and attorney Matt Herrington takes an in-depth look at the settlement of the litigation against Swiss banks for their conduct during the Holocaust. Herrington asseses a recent book by Jane Schapiro on the litigation, and argues that, based in part on events that follow those recounted in the book, the decision to settle may well have been unwise and premature.
Friday, Nov. 21, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and author Roger Newman weighs in on a newly unearthed memoir about FDR by Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson. Newman discusses how the book illuminates not only FDR, but also Jackson himself -- and also reveals FDR's influence on Jackson's career and choices.
Friday, Nov. 14, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Alan Baron assesses a recent book by journalist Murray Weiss, The Man Who Warned America: The Life and Death of John O'Neill, The FBI's Embattled Counterterror Warrior. Killed in the collapse of the South Tower of the World Trade Center, Baron was both a hero and a maverick. One interesting question Weiss and Baron, who was a friend of O'Neill's, both discuss is whether brilliant mavericks like O'Neill could find a place in today's government agencies -- and whether a new one would have to be created to accommodate them.
Friday, Nov. 07, 2003
FindLaw columnist, attorney, and author Elaine Cassel reviews Georgetown law professor and Nation correspondent David Cole's provocative recent book on the "war on terror," Enemy Aliens. Cole's thesis is that the way the government treats immigrants, is often the way it will soon treat citizens, too. To prove his point, he draws on examples ranging from '80s prosecutions of alleged communists, including the L.A. 8, to contemporary examples from Guantanamo Bay.
Friday, Oct. 31, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Peter Lurie assesses a new book by a trio of psychology experts, Sexual Rights in America. The book examines the respects in which American law falls short of protecting "the right to choose how, when, and with whom we have sex." The authors argue that protecting privacy alone is not enough -- a recognition of sexual rights must go further. Lurie is skeptical, however, of their alternative approach.
Friday, Oct. 24, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer, attorney, and author Adam J. Freedman assesses a recent novel by former prosecutor and now-law-professor Alafair Burke, Judgment Calls. Freedman compliments Burke's sense of plotting and suspense, and explains why Burke's novel offers a more realistic portrait of prosecutors' lives than many others do.
Friday, Oct. 17, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Matt Herrington reviews journalist Adam Penenberg's Tragic Indifference: One Man's Battle with the Auto Industry Over the Dangers of SUVs. The book discusses the Ford Explorer/Firestone tire controversy as it played out in the courts, in Congressional hearings, and in the media. Herrington contends that while the story of the case is compelling, Penenberg's book offers a "good guys versus bad guys" view that is too simplistic.
Friday, Oct. 10, 2003
What happens when thrillers get political? FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Sam Williamson discusses Richard North Patterson's Balance of Power as a case in point. Williamson faults Balance of Power -- another in a series of novels by Patterson featuring protagonist, and now President, Kerry Kilcannon -- not for being political, but for only presenting one side of the political issue it explores, gun control.
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney David Lundsgaard assesses a new essay collected, Rehnquist Justice: Understanding the Court Dynamic. Composed of nine essays by nine different writers -- one on each Supreme Court Justice -- the collection aims to paint a portrait of the Court as a composite of the nine individuals who share its bench. Lundsgaard argues that the collection is a worthy one even though it does betray some misconceptions, along the way, about the nature of judging at the Supreme Court.
Friday, Sep. 26, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Gerald Russello reviews Alex Wellen's
Barman -- a memoir of Wellen's law school experiences, his exhausting bar study,
his law firm years, and his ultimate departure from the law to become a TV
producer. Russello applauds Wellen's humor and sincerity, and finds the book a
worthy read, but points out ways it might have been improved.
Friday, Sep. 19, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer, attorney and journalist Seth Stern reviews journalist Gary Delsohn's The Prosecutors -- a nonfiction account deriving from a year Delsohn devoted to observing Sacramento prosecutors and criminal trials. Stern argues that Delsohn overidentifies with the prosecutors he is covering, and chose the wrong trial to focus on, but nonetheless finds parts of the book compelling.
Friday, Sep. 12, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and Hofstra law professor Joanna Grossman discusses a recent book on a problem many of us may wish we had: how to successfully transfer huge sums of wealth within a family, through wills and otherwise. The book, Preparing Heirs, reveals that over 70% of such transfers fail, in that beneficiaries lose control of the transferred money, and suggests how families can make such transfers more successful, more often.
Friday, Sep. 05, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Laura Hodes reviews the recent book on the Clinton years, and the contested 2000 election, by veteran journalist and former Clinton Administration communications director Sidney Blumenthal. Hodes praises Blumenthal's ability to bring together history, memoir, and political argument, and argues that we are right to worry about the political and media trends he describes.
Friday, Aug. 29, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Matthew Herrington evaluates UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh's new stylebook for writing law review articles, student notes, and seminar papers.� Herrington praises Volokh's book highly for both its sharp style rules, and its savvy guide to actually getting a law review article published.
Friday, Aug. 22, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Sam Williamson reviews former attorney and journalist Amy Gutman's new legal thriller, The Anniversary.� Williamson compliments Gutman's storytelling flair and adept characterizations, but takes issue with her ending (though without spoiling it).�
Friday, Aug. 15, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Mark Zaid reviews conservative commentator Ann Coulter's recent book, Treason.� Zaid takes strong issue with Coulter's complimentary portrayal of Senator Joseph McCarthy -- including her interpretation of the related Vernona papers, disclosed in 1995.� Zaid also find Coulter's thesis wildly overstated, and her evidence sorely lacking.
Friday, Aug. 08, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer, attorney and author Elaine Cassel discusses a new book on capital punishment by Boalt Hall law professor Franklin Zimring.� Zimring traces both the cultural roots of the American death penalty, and its likely fate in the future.� Cassel contends that the Bush Administration is out of step with the majority of Americans' death penalty views.
Friday, Aug. 01, 2003
FindLaw columnist, FindLaw book reviewer, and former counsel to the President John Dean assesses prolific author Louis Fisher's most recent work, Nazi Saboteurs on Trial.�� The book details the history behind Ex Parte Quirin, the key Supreme Court precedent upon which the Bush Administration has relied for the authority to convene military tribunals in the war on terrorism.� Dean explains why the book's lessons suggest Quirin may not be the type of precedent the Court ought to follow.
Friday, Jul. 25, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Rodger Citron discusses a recent book by law professor Daniel Farber on two major constitution issues that arose during Abraham Lincoln's Presidency.� One is the basic question of the constitutionality -- or lack thereof -- of the South's bid at secession.� The other is the extent to which the President may assert expansive powers in wartime without running afoul of the Constitution.
Friday, Jul. 18, 2003
FindLaw book review and finance expert Tom Taulli reviews Infectious Greed by Frank Partnoy.� In the book, Partnoy -- a professor at San Diego Law School and previously a FindLaw guest columnist -- argues that problems like the blowups of Enron, WorldCom, and Global Crossing are not isolated but systemic, symptoms of far larger issues with the financial markets.� Taulli assesses Partnoy's narrative of how derivatives, in particular, have destabilize the financial markets, and notes his proposals for reform.
Friday, Jul. 11, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Matthew Herrington discusses a recent historical work by Peter Charles Hoffer. The book focuses on a series of early American trials less well known than -- but potentially as disturbing as -- the Salem witch trials.� These trials occurred in 1741, in colonial New York, and led to the execution of over three dozen people, most of whom were African-American slaves.�
Monday, Jul. 07, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer, attorney, and former Marine Sam Williamson reviews Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky's Absolutely American -- an account of life at West Point based on Lipsky's four years of reportage there.� Williamson finds much to appreciate in Lipsky's account, and in West Point itself.� But he faults the author for being too thoroughly seduced by an institution of which Lipsky first was skeptical, and then came to love.
Friday, Jun. 27, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and future Rutgers law professor Neil Buchanan assesses Eric Alterman's provocative recent book, What Liberal Media?� Drawing on evidence from Iraq war coverage, Buchanan considers whether the media are biased in favor of liberalism, conservatism, money, power, or any or all of the above.�
Friday, Jun. 20, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Elaine Cassel discusses Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria's recent book, The Future of Freedom:� Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad.� Along the way, Cassel raises two provocative questions about the application of Zakaria's thesis: Can Iraq become not just a democracy, but a liberal democracy, with full civil liberties protections?� And, is the U.S. still truly a liberal democracy despite recent incursions into civil liberties?
Friday, Jun. 13, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney G.J. Russello reviews a recent book on a less-discussed but crucial era in American history: the decades that preceded the Revolutionary War and the framing of the Consitution.� Historian John Ferling's A Leap in the Dark:� The Struggle to Create the American Republic, as Russello explains, has a great deal to offer even to those readers already somewhat familiar with early American history.
Friday, Jun. 06, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer, attorney, and visiting U. Iowa law school lecturer Paul Horwitz asseses federal judge and profilic author Richard Posner's latest book.� IN the book, Posner explicates his own theory of "common sense" pragmatism, and applies the theory to controversial Supreme Court cases such as Bush v. Gore and Clinton v. Jones.
Friday, May. 30, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Laura Hodes's reviews John B. Roberts's recent book, Rating the First Ladies. In the course of her review, Hodes discusses important questions such as: What was the gap between various First Ladies' public and private images? How did First Ladies react to the advent of mass media, when presenting themselves to the public? Must a First Lady be ahead of her time when it comes to women's rights? Must she restrict herself to being a hostess, or can she be a policymaker too?
Friday, May. 23, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Matthew Herrington evaluates a recent book by Jerrold Post, a former longtime CIA profiler, on psychological profiling in general, and the profiles of Hitler, Begin, Sadat, Clinton, and Saddam in particular.� Herrington focuses on whether Saddam's psychological profile was an accurate predictor of his actions during the recent war; and whether statistics and "hard" science are useful in profiling.
Friday, May. 16, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Rodger Citron evaluates U. Texas historian Lewis Gould's recently-published The Modern American Presidency.� Citron praises Gould's descriptive powers, but finds faults with his suggestions for reforming the presidency.
Friday, May. 09, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and corporate finance expert Tom Taulli reviews a recent biography of one of the Supreme Court's greatest characters, Justice William O. Douglas, by accomplished Court scribe Bruce Murphy.� As Taulli discusses, Douglas's life and his legend were often out of sync, but both are fascinating.
Friday, May. 02, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and Crimes of War website editor Anthony Dworkin reviews Robert Kagan's recent book on the differences between modern American and European points of view regarding the use of force and the importance of international law. Dworkin finds Kagan's argument clever but ultimately unconvincing - especially as it applies to the European/American split on the Iraq war.
Friday, Apr. 25, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer, attorney and ex-Marine Sam Williamson reviews ex-Marine Anthony Swofford's memoir Jarhead. Swofford tells of his experiences both training with his platoon, and during the Gulf War. Williamson takes him to task for leaving out many positive aspects of the experience of being a Marine.
Friday, Apr. 18, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Peter Lurie reviews Yale law professor Amy Chua's recent book on the roots of anti-American hatred. Chua's thesis is that anti-Americanism is the result of "the three most powerful forces operating in the world today: markets, democracy, and ethnic hatred"; she also makes some policy prescriptions to remedy the situation.
Friday, Apr. 11, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Mark Zaid discusses the story of the American prosecutor, thirty-two-year-old "country lawyer" William Denson, who procured convictions in a set of lesser known, but important, post-World War II Nazi prosecutions. Denson handled prosecutions of war crimes committed at the concentration camps at Dachau, Mauthausen, Flossenburg and Buchenwald.
Friday, Apr. 04, 2003
FindLaw columnist and book reviewer, and Hofstra law professor, Joanna Grossman reviews attorney Judith Richards Hope's book on the lives of the fifteen women in Harvard Law School's class of 1964. Grossman applauds the book as a historical account, but finds it falls short as an interesting narrative, for several reasons.
Friday, Mar. 28, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Matt Herrington assesses the latest book by acclaimed historian Bernard Bailyn -- an essay collection addressing the reasons behind the genius of the U.S. Constitution's Framers. Herrington explains how Bailyn's cross-disciplinary approach yields new insights about the Framers, and continues the thread of the argument first introduced in Bailyn's 1960's classic The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution.
Friday, Mar. 21, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Paul Horwitz finds a grain of truth, but also a lack of balance, in former judge and failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's latest book, Coercing Virtue: The Worldwide Rule of Judges. Focusing on the Supreme Court of the U.S., Canada, and Israel, and taking on international law as well, Bork contends that in these nations and elsewhere, a "New Class" of liberals is imposing its values through the judicial branch.
Friday, Mar. 14, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer, attorney, and author Elaine Cassel weighs in on Rutgers criminal justice professor Michael Welch's provocative assessment of historical and current laws relating to immigrants, Detained: Immigration Laws and the Expanding I.N.S. Jail Complex. Cassel explains the relevant laws and regulations, both predating and postdating 9/11, and assesses the conclusions Welch draws.
Friday, Mar. 07, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and human rights attorney Joanne Mariner assesses a recent book on the My Lai massacre and the subsequent prosecution of Lieutenant William Calley. Mariner notes that, with war on Iraq apparently impending, the book's lessons on the difficulty of distinguishing civilians from soldiers in the context of battle, and some officers' indifference to doing so, may be relevant today as well.
Friday, Feb. 28, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and U. Washington law professor Anita Ramasastry reviews former Clinton Administration official Stuart Eizenstat's new memoir about the people (including Eizenstat himself) who created the Holocaust restitution settlements. As Ramasastry notes, Eizenstat gives a fascinating insider's view of a process filled with disputes, and plagued by political obstacles, that nonetheless ended in striking success.
Friday, Feb. 21, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Sam Williamson was less than thrilled with John Grisham's most recent legal thriller, The King of Torts. Williamson explains why, in his view, the novel's plot is weak, and its over-the-top grudge against plaintiffs' lawyers is plain.
Friday, Feb. 14, 2003
FindLaw columnist and book reviewer Barton Aronson reviews James Jacobs's new book Can Gun Control Work? Jacobs asks this provocative question: How can gun control work, given that Americans don't favor giving up guns, and that so far, banning only some guns, and regulating only some gun sales, hasn't worked very well? Jacobs has some suggestions, and so does Aronson.
Friday, Feb. 07, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attoreny Matthew Herrington assesses a new book by Thomas E. Patterson that compiles and comments on a massive set of recent data on declining American voting rates. The book, and the review, weigh in on important questions such as: How much has the voting rate fallen, and why? Do voting rates really matter, and if so, why? What, if anything, can be done to combat falling voting rates? Are primaries important and if so, how can they be made more relevant?
Friday, Jan. 31, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Mark Zaid reviews former U. Baltimore law professor C. Williams Michaels's new book, No Greater Threat: America After September 11 And The Rise Of A National Security State. How can we tell if the U.S. is indeed becoming more of a national security state than a free country? Zaid explains Michaels's criteria, and assesses his reasons for believing America is sacrificing too much freedom in the name of security.
Friday, Jan. 24, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Laura Hodes weighs in on attorney Doug Isenberg's new Internet law guide. Hodes contends that the guide will work well for its intended audience -- those who seek to make a preliminary assessment of their sites' liability risks -- but is no substitute for a good lawyer. She also takes issue with some of its decisions as to what, and what not, to cover.
Friday, Jan. 17, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer Elaine Cassel reviews an essay collection regarding the consequences of the U.S.'s extremely high per capita incarceration rate. Cassel, and the essay collection, take on a number of provocative questions related to this topic, including what this incarceration rate means for prisoners, their families, and society; and why Finland has dramatically reduced its once-similar rate, yet we have not.
Friday, Jan. 10, 2003
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Gerald J. Russello discusses a recent book on the Constitution's framing, A Brilliant Solution, authored by CUNY/Baruch College history professor Carol Berkin. As Russello explains, Berkin demonstrates that the form the Constitution, as we know it, took, was hardly a foregone conclusion at the Constitutional Convention.
Friday, Dec. 13, 2002
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Matt Herrington reviews Columbia law professor (and FindLaw guest columnist) George Fletcher's recent book, Romantics At War. Romantics at War discusses, among other topics, military tribunals, "unlawful combatants," Nuremberg, the German saboteur case on which the Bush Administration has heavily relied, and the general question of how the laws of war have adapted (or not adapted) to the modern world, with its concept of "war crimes," and its persistent problems with terrorism.
Friday, Dec. 06, 2002
FindLaw book reviewer, attorney, and author Elaine Cassel reviews a recent book by John T. Noonan, Jr., an emeritus Boalt Hall law professor and judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Noonan takes aim at the Supreme Court's federalism jurisprudence relating to both the Eleventh and Fourteenth Amendments. In her review, Cassel explains how the Amendments intersect, and notes how Noonan's critique may relate to an upcoming Supreme Court case.
Friday, Nov. 22, 2002
FindLaw book reviewer and freelance writer Kevin Doyle weighs in on highly respected New York attorney Martin Garbus's recent book on the Supreme Court. Garbus covers a number of different areas of the Court's jurisprudence, and offers a frank polemic explaining why -- from a liberal's point of view -- the current Court has gone off-track.
Friday, Nov. 15, 2002
FindLaw book reviewer and USC Marshall School finance professor Tom Taulli discusses a new Enron expose: Anatomy of Greed: The Unshredded Truth from an Enron Insider. The expose, authored by young MBA Brian Cruver, offers a ground-level view of how employees experienced Enron's implosion -- as well as providing context from the company's history.
Friday, Nov. 08, 2002
Is former President Grover Cleveland now no more than an obscure Trivial Pursuit answer? Not at all, argues FindLaw book reviewer and attorney G.J. Russello. Russello assesses a recent Cleveland biography by Henry Graff that illustrates why Cleveland's Presidential years were actually among the most interesting in American history.
Friday, Nov. 01, 2002
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Sam Williamson assesses Scott Turow's latest novel -- Reversible Errors, which tells a number of interwoven stories related to a death penalty prisoner's last chance at reversing his fate. Williamson discusses the novel in the context of Turow's past work, placing it on the spectrum ranging from works about society such as "Laws of Our Fathers" to works about law such as "Personal Injuries."
Friday, Oct. 25, 2002
FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Matthew Herrington reviews Lawrence Schiller's new "true litigation" account of a suspicious car accident, which led to a civil suit, which led to further investigation of a possible murder. Herrington contends that, in addition to offering a fascinating narrative, the book also illuminates a major mistake that plaintiffs frequently make, and that lawyers should be careful to counsel against.
Friday, Oct. 18, 2002
FindLaw book reviewer Elaine Cassel discusses a new book on contemporary and past U.S. efforts to combat "terrorism" and the legal abuses that have resulted. The work, by Georgetown law professor David Cole and Jamex X. Dempsey of the Center for Democracy and Technology, has been updated to include material not only on the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, but also on the post 9/11 USA PATRIOT Act. Cassel contends that the book may portend poorly for hopes that federal courts will intervene to check anti-terror legal measures.
Friday, Oct. 11, 2002
What was it like to clerk for one of the "Four Horsemen" -- the four Supreme Court Justices whose resistance to the New Deal almost led FDR to pack the Court? As FindLaw book reviewer and attorney Paul Horwitz explains, we can now get the answer right from the horse's mouth (as it were), for a long-forgotten clerk tell-all has been rescued and published at the behest of two legal scholars. Horwitz assesses clerk John Knox's account, and explains why by the end of his clerkship, Knox took to referring to his Justice as "that bastard."
Friday, Oct. 4, 2002
FindLaw book reviewer, attorney, and New York Law Journal columnist Adam Freedman offers a humorous review of a humorous collection of "101 Real Dumb Laws." Freedman notes, however, that some of the laws aren't so dumb, and some of the characterizations of the laws aren't so real -- for example, there isn't actually any law against tying an alligator to a fire hydrant, it turns out.
Friday, Sep. 27, 2002
FindLaw columnist and human rights attorney Joanne Mariner reviews Samantha Power's book "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide. Power argues that U.S. authorities repeatedly failed to take needed action to stop mass slaughter, and shows how their reluctance to use the term "genocide" for situations like Rwanda's was connected to their inaction. �Power also contends that officials ignored warning signs of genocide, exaggerated the dangers of confronting the situation, and minimized proof of the crime.
Tuesday, Sep. 24, 2002
FindLaw columnist and book reviewer and Cardozo law professor Marci Hamilton reviews Professor Philip Hamburger's recent book, The Separation of Church and State. Hamilton finds much in the book to admire, including the strong evidence it adduces to support a fascinating thesis about American history. She cautions, however, that the work may be susceptible to misuse by those who deny that church/state separation is an integral part of the Constitution, and seek a far closer relationship between the two.
Friday, Sep. 20, 2002
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6th - Algier Hiss's Looking Glass Wars: The Covert Life Of A Soviet Spy
by G. Edward White
20th - Corporations And Transnational Human Rights Litigation
by Sarah Joseph
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