 Book Reviews || Past-Perfect || Book Notices || Publishers || Archive ————————————————————————————— JURIST: Books-on-Law is edited by Ronald K.L. Collins and David Skover of the Seattle University School of Law Editorial Consultants:  
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It’s Fall, which means that publishers are releasing all sorts of new law and
law-related books. Want to find out what’s new? Take a look at our Book Notices link.
We open this issue of Books-on-Law with an entry in our Past-Perfect category. We are pleased to reprint a little-known 1917 review by Theodore Roosevelt. In it, the former President discusses the then-new, two-volume biography of Chief Justice John Marshall. Interested in criminal justice and how it does or does not work? If so, click on Robert Weisberg’s review of H. Richard Uviller’s book on criminal justice, or consider Randy Barnett’s examination of Clay Conrad’s book on jury nullification. If you prefer something in the First Amendment field, there is Christopher May’s review of Jeffery A. Smith’s new work on free press and war powers. Finally, in the jurisprudential realm, Anthony Sebok takes a look at Judge Posner’s latest work on law and theory. Remember: We welcome your words. So talk back to us. Also, be sure to check out our archives file to see some of the 100 reviews we have published thus far. The Supreme’s Greatest Hits No, the reference is not to the music of the great Motown group. "Stop in the Name of Love" and "Baby Love" are not in this collection. Rather, these are the greatest hits of the other Supremes, as in the Justices of the Supreme Court -- with "hits" such as the oral arguments in Miranda v. Arizona and New York Times v. Sullivan. They are now available in audio CD form -- The Supreme Court’s Greatest Hits (Northwestern University Press, 1999) ($29.95). You can’t play Greatest Hits in your home or car CD-player, but you can play it on your computer if it has a CD-ROM drive. This tribute to law and orality is the brainchild of political science Professor Jerry Goldman, the same man who gave us the OYEZ Project. Essentially, Greatest Hits is an unedited audio compilation of the oral arguments in 50 noted constitutional cases (circa 1956-1997). There are also 13 "opinion pronouncements." The list of cases includes Adarand Constructors v. Pena, Brandenburg v. Ohio, Clinton v. Jones, Craig v. Boren, Gideon v. Wainwright, Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, Reno v. ACLU, Roe v. Wade, and all of the "usual" lineup of great post-1955 cases. Of course, some cases -- e.g., Baker v. Carr -- are omitted, but with an explanation. (Interestingly, the New York Times considers Baker to be one of the 10 most important cases ever handed down by the Court.) Since the CD collection has compressed sound files, it can handle the more than seventy hours of audio on single disc. And thanks to digital audio encoding, Greatest Hits allows its listeners to pinpoint and play back sections instantaneously (e.g., one can click right to that segment of the case argued, for example, by former Solicitor General Charles Fried). Greatest Hits is offered primarily for Court watchers and students of constitutional law. Thus, the 50 cases selected cover a range of subjects dealing with constitutional law (no statutory or copyright cases, etc). The subject areas are the "sexier" mass-appeal ones, including freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, gender discrimination, political participation, privacy and personal autonomy, racial discrimination, rights of the accused, and search and seizure. In these arguments one can hear the good, the bad, and even the pathetic -- coming from the mouths of counsel and Justices alike. For those who cannot readily distinguish between the voices, say, of Justice Byron White and John Paul Stevens, Professor Goldman has included a voice profile key to help the uninitiated. On that score, one will have to listen long and hard to discern the voice in oral arguments of Justice Clarence Thomas. Finally, don’t look for Greatest Hits at your local book or record store. Oddly enough, right now it is not even sold at the kiosk located inside of the Supreme Court. Copies can, however, be obtained from Northwestern University Press. Discussing Discourses Discourse. There are so many of them these days -- e.g., race, feminist, gender, legal, political, postmodern, even scientific discourses. Everybody is talking about talk . . . how we talk, when we talk, why we talk, what it means to talk. Enter Eloise A Buker, a professor of political science and director of Women’s Studies at Denison University. She’s talking, too, about talk . . . well sort of "talking," that is. Bringing orality to print, she is the author of the just-published Talking Feminist Politics: Conversations on Law, Science, and the Postmodern (Rowman & Littlefield, 1999). Feminist political theory now flourishes in the discourses of law, science, and postmodern philosophy. Analyzing these three discourses, Professor Buker uses feminist legal conversations to focus on justice, feminist science to examine the connections between truth and politics, and postmodern feminism to analyze habits, symbols, and speech that frame ethical codes, which in turn shape political relationships. In the book’s eleven chapters, Buker centers her analysis on American feminist thought since 1980. Some chapters are especially law focused -- e.g., "Feminist Legal Discourse" and "Reconstructing Legal Discourse" -- while others are law-politics related -- e.g., "Judgments and Politics." Throughout, she ventures to show how feminist theories offer strategies for the kind of social change that, she believes, can energize citizens today. Unlike other books in the field, Talking Feminist Politics offers policies to improve the plight of both women and men -- e.g., the chapters titled "Talking Our Way Along" and "Feminist Stories for a New Politics." Other books by Eloise Buker include: Politics Through a Looking-Glass (1987) and Taking Parts: Ingredients for Leadership, Participation, and Empowerment (1994). Forthcoming The November 1999 issue of Books-on-Law is scheduled to contain the following: A lively online Question-and-Answer exchange concerning Steven Shiffrin’s new book, Dissent, Injustice, and the Meanings of America. The contributors include:
Ronald K.L. Collins & David M. Skover, Editors, Books-on-Law
————————————————————————————— Board of Editorial Consultants: Raj Bhala, George Washington University Law School; Miriam Galston, George Washington University Law School; Kermit Hall, Ohio State University College of Law; Yale Kamisar, University of Michigan Law School; Lisa G. Lerman, Catholic University of America School of Law; David M. O'Brien, University of Virginia Department of Government and Foreign Affairs; Judith Resnik, Yale Law School; Edwin L. Rubin, University of Pennsylvania Law School; Steven H. Shriffrin, Cornell Law School; Nadine Strossen, New York Law School; David B. Wilkins, Harvard Law School.
Administrative Assistant for Books-on-Law: Ms. Nancy Ammons © Ronald K.L. Collins and David Skover, 1999.
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BOOKS-ON-LAW/From
the Editors - October 1999; v.2, no.8