This very interesting casebook covers a broad spectrum of international and U.S. law applicable to refugee and asylum claims. The casebook contains diverse materials that allow the law student or just the interested person to have a clear panorama of this complex but wonderful area of law. Continuous references to materials of the UNHCR are provided and policy analysis of different problems arising out asylum law are included. This is an indispensable tool for an asylum lawyer

This author has the most profound understanding of tenants right I have ever encountered. A must buy for all renters. I admire this man and his wisdom. This is genius.

This book is a history of the death penalty in Germany. The book starts by describing an execution in 1616. That execution was the breaking of a man by he wheel. What was involved was the tying of a man to a scaffold and using a large wagon wheel to break all of the bones in the body of the condemned man.

The book charts the gradual move away from the use of such punishments by German Civil authorities. The reasons for it were complex. In the 17th Century there were heavy religious overtones associated with executions. This led to them being accepted by the victims and society generally. By the 19th Century one of the major reasons for the end of public executions was the behavior of the condemned. They would mimic the public officials, declare their innocence and the like. There was also concern that the public had started to sympathize with the condemned. (This however does not seem to have occurred to the extent that it did in Britain. Most of the German States were well regulated and authoritarian. The death penalty was generally reserved for more serious matters. In Britain a police force was not created until the 1830's. The death penalty was thus used for a range of comparatively minor offences such as theft. This led to outbreaks of sympathy for the condemned. In Britain public executions had to be moved to secure areas in London and later were carried out in private.)

In Germany after the enlightenment a number of intellectual currents led to changing attitudes which cut down the number of people actually executed. Thus the development of an awareness of mental illness, the realization of the link between crime and the bread prices led to a realization that crime was not the result of a free moral decision.

The book takes the history through the unification of Germany and the NAZI period up to modern times.

The book is well written entertaining and a must for anyone who has an interest in criminology and the history of the criminal law.

The Scopes Trial: A Brief History with Documents is a wonderful introduction to the Scopes "monkey" trial and its significance in history. I found the narrative history to be a quick but compelling and informative read, and was especially interested in the way in which the author shows how events during the time period following the First World War influenced the parties and helped to explain their motivations. I also found the documents, including excerpts from the trial transcript and newspaper articles of the time to be very helpful in understanding the manner in which the trial developed and the manner in which it was perceived nationally. Anyone looking for a readable yet informative work on the Scopes trial would be well advised to look into this book.

The late Len Bates has culminated a life-time of research with this biography of Thomas Walsh, senator from Montana and major political player in the first third of the twentieth century. This work fills a major gap in the account of this period, and speaks most directly to Progressive period and the 1920s, as well as to the surprisingly complex political history of America's Western states. Bates has no particular axe to grin, but confines himself to a measured, factual, but entertaining account that says much about the realities of reform and politics in American society Good history, well done!

Anyone who believes that the war on drugs is a folly, that criminalization of prostitution is an abuse of women's right to their own bodies, and that the ban on eutanasia is pure cruelty - will find all the legal and ethical arguments systematically elucidated. But the beauty of this book is that it provides an enormous richness of scholarly apparatus in support of what is just common sense to any liberally minded citizen.

Chapter 1, Human Rights and the Public Morality under Constitutional Democracy, has 9 pages of small-print notes after 20 pages of regular-print text.

2, Consensual Homosexuality and the Constitutional Right to Privacy: 33 pp of text, 19 pp of notes.

3, Commercial Sex and the Rights of the Person: 43 pp text, 30 pp notes

4, Drug use and the Rights of the Person: 38 pp.text, 19 pp notes

5, Constitutional Privacy, the Right to Die, and the Meaning of life: 39pp text, 15pp notes

6, Concluding Perspectives: 6pp text, 2 pp notes

Bibliography, 24 pages

Table of Cases, 3 pages

Table of Statutes, 2 pages

- Anyone who is serious about our personal freedoms wil find this book a superb research tool and basic ammunition store of arguments.

Anyone looking for a balanced, albeit compassionate, but not mushy, defense of limited government should be directed to read this superb book. All writing is social. For some time Epstein has been having a running dialogue - or shall we say a running battle of words - in his books with apologists for the welfare state such as Cass Sunstein's contrapuntal book The Cost of Rights: Why Liberty Depends on Taxes (1999). Epstein deftly exposes the flawed assumptions of his opponents - that more taxes and regulation do not result in greater liberty, compassion, or even a bigger economic pie. The problem with Epstein's book, as opposed to those of his rivals, is few outside academia may read it. Epstein can sometimes write eloquently - such as when he summarizes the "melancholy truth" that wealth redistribution works for the powerful not the needy with the apt phrase: "there is many a slip between cup and lip." Epstein can out-reason both his opponents on his Left and Right - such welfare absolutists as Cass Sunstein on one hand, and such moral relativists as laissez fairest Richard Posner on the other (Economic Analysis of Law 1998). But his book appeals to the rational and those of his Big Government opponents to the emotional. Unfortunately, few may find Epstein's first chapter on "Two Forms of Skepticism" (which he never really explains) as engaging and may likely put the book down at that point. Epstein explains that this is perhaps the last book in his trilogy (Simple Rules, 1995 and Principles for a Simple Society, 1998) and apologizes to his family for taking time to write a book for which he says they don't entirely approve. I would hope that Epstein would write a fourth book, albeit a dumbed-downed, more emotional and experiential book that would have wider appeal and of which maybe even his family would approve. But then if he did that maybe his compelling arguments for limited government would be diluted and lost. So my suggestion for readers is to plod through Epstein's "inepstein" beginning of his book and you will find it worthwhile. Then again, a classic is a book that appeals to a wide range of readers, and maybe Epstein will someday write us such a book. He nearly does it with this one. Highly recommended.

There are usually two sides to every story. However, as a labor and employment lawyer who represents management, it is difficult for me to see how an investigation into the fact pattern presented by Mr. Martin could have resulted in anything short of an apology and compensation for the egregious conduct of his supervisors and certain co-workers. Of course, when the US Supreme Court opened the door for some clear guidance on same-sex sexual harassment, the victory for Mr. Martin was all but assured. Nonetheless, the book's riveting account of Mr. Martin's courage to stand up to the system, prior to the precedent impact of the Supreme Court's decision, is a reminder to us all that right is right and wrong is simply wrong!

I would encourage corporate America to read and digest the issues which Mr. Martin raises, not only in the isolated same-sex harassment arena, but for an education into the mindset of a tenacious plaintiff who is willing to risk all for the sake of a belief that he was wronged by a company and organization to which he gave his all, and most of a career. This book, then, is a warning and an education for human resources directors at all companies. Such a story of harm and betrayal at the hands of a man's employer may encourage others similarly situated to fight, but if the proper lessons are learned, Mr. Martin's narrative may do well to prevent such from happening!

Sincerely,

James H. Stock, Jr.
Weintraub, Stock, Bennett, Grisham, And Underwood
2560 One Commerce Square
Memphis, TN 38103

Like most Americans, you and I have already devoted countless hours absorbing the latest reports about high-profile legal cases. A short list reminds us of the time we have spent: O. J., JonBenet, Rodney King, Lorena Bobitt, Monica Lewinsky, and the British nanny Louise Woodward. In the 1990s, these and other judicial soap operas have become a mainstay of mainstream television, newspapers, and magazines. These "dramas" are the lifeblood of the newer cable and Internet "news" media. These cases have so worked their way into our collective consciousness that the mere mention of one can easily evoke (and provoke!) a long and far-ranging discussion.

In their new book TABLOID JUSTICE: CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN AN AGE OF MEDIA FRENZY, Richard Fox and Robert Van Sickel have dissected how the increasingly entertainment-oriented news media have covered such high-profile legal cases. The authors show how growing familiarity with celebrity criminal cases has distorted our understanding of the U. S. legal system and undercut our confidence in law enforcement, attorneys, judges, and the jury system.

TABLOID JUSTICE offers a concise introduction to this important subject. It is richly documented without being pedantic. It is a wonderful text for college-level courses in Law and Society or Mass Communications. Students will find its argument compelling. Faculty will appreciate its value as a catalyst for class discussions about the impact of the media on our legal system.

Soon a new "trial of the century" will come our way. Fox and Van Sickel want all of us to be better prepared when it does.