Jeffrey Shulman (Georgetown). The Constitutional Parent (Yale University Press, 2014).
"In this bold and timely work, law professor Jeffrey Shulman argues that the United States Constitution does not protect a fundamental right to parent. Based on a rigorous reconsideration of the historical record, Shulman challenges the notion, held by academics and the general public alike, that parental rights have a long-standing legal pedigree. What is deeply rooted in our legal tradition and social conscience, Shulman demonstrates, is the idea that the state entrusts parents with custody of the child, and it does so only as long as parents meet their fiduciary duty to serve the developmental needs of the child."
—Publisher's Website
Irus Braverman et al (eds.). The Expanding Spaces of Law (Stanford University Press, 2014).
The Expanding Spaces of Law presents readers with cutting-edge scholarship in legal geography. An invaluable resource for those new to this line of scholarship, the book also pushes the boundaries of legal geography, reinvigorating previous modes of inquiry and investigating new directions. It guides scholars interested in the law-space-power nexus to underexplored empirical sites and to novel theoretical and disciplinary resources. Finally, The Expanding Spaces of Law asks readers to think about the temporality and dynamism of legal spaces.
—Publisher's Website
Kristan Poirot (Texas A&M University). A Question of Sex: Feminism, Rhetoric, and Differences that Matter (University of Massachusetts Press, 2014).
"By the mid-1990s feminist theorists and critics began to challenge conventional thinking about sex difference and its relationship to gender and sexuality. Scholars such as Anne Fausto-Sterling and Judith Butler troubled the sex-gender/nature-nurture divide. Some have asserted that these questions about sex are much too abstract to contribute to a valuable understanding of the material politics faced by feminist movements. In A Question of Sex, Kristan Poirot challenges this assumption and demonstrates that contemporary theories about sex, gender, identity, and difference compel a rethinking of the history of feminist movements and their rhetorical practices."
—Publisher's Website
Tom Bell (Chapman University). Intellectual Privilege (Mercatus Center at George Mason University, 2014).
"Two opposing viewpoints have driven the debate over copyright policy. One side questions copyright for the same reasons it questions all restraints on freedoms of expression, and dismisses copyright, like other forms of property, as a mere plaything of political forces. The opposing side regards copyrights as property rights that deserve—like rights in houses, cars, and other forms of property—the fullest protection of the law.
Each of these viewpoints defends important truths. Both fail, however, to capture the essence of copyright. Intellectual Privilege reveals copyright as a statutory privilege that threatens our natural and constitutional rights. From this fresh perspective comes fresh solutions to copyright's problems."
—Publisher's Website
James D. Zirin. The Mother Court (American Bar Association, 2014).
"The Mother Court is the first book to chronicle the mid-twentieth century history of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the most influential trial court in the United States, written from the perspective of a litigator who has tried many cases before some of its most iconic judges . . . This is a must read for all lawyers old and new, anyone involved in the criminal justice system, legal history buffs, and even those with merely a passing interest in the law looking for an insightful, entertaining, and illuminating read about the greatest trial court in the country."
—From book jacket
