I heartily recommend Richard Labunski's thoughtful and carefully researched book, "The Second Constitutional Convention." Our Constitution is probably the most revered document in U.S. history. Yet it was written long before automobiles, airplanes, telephones, or the Internet, and a lot has changed in our country. Labunski's point is that, when Congress refuses to obey the will of the people because of special-interest campaign money, for instance, we have a recourse: Though difficult, we can initiate the process of calling a new constitutional convention to revise the Constitution, so that it is, once again, of, by, and for The People.

Two years ago, at the University of Kentucky, I had my first class with Dr. Richard Labunski. I found him to be a very honest man who pulled no punches when it came to legal and journalistic issues.

This book reflects that personality. If you want a honest, frank opinion on our political system, this book is for you.

If you're close-minded about the greatness and pedestal-like stature of our Constitution, you might not like this book.

In this book, Labunski forced me to admit that our system of government has some glaring shortcomings.

This truth hurts, and it will keep hurting. It is a cavity in the political mouth of our nation, and it cannot be properly filled without a second convention.

In The Second Constitutional Convention: How The American People Can Take Back Their Government, educator and political observer Richard Labunski shows how United States citizens can utilize a long neglected section of the American Constitution to organize a constitutional convention, the first such since the original 1787 convention in which the Constitution was first framed and presented to then fledgling nation. Labunski also shows why such a present-day convention would be desirable to effectively deal with today's rampant cynicism about politics and government, solve the out-of-control and corruptive campaign finance system, reverse the alarming and increasing voter turn declines, the dangers and potential benefits of the Internet for our democracy, and more. The Second Constitutional Convention is "must" reading for anyone who has ever turned away in disgust with the politics and politicians that dominate and control the American government today.

This is certainly a worth-reading book. Its application of Durkheim's and Merton's anomie theory to the crime dynamics of American society is tightly reasoned and very appealing. The thesis that unusually high crime rates in the US are the dark side of the success promoted by the American ethos seems to account for many of the observed facts. The book follows an excellent logical development and provides appealing explanations for the etiology of the main American nightmare. Unfortunately, it lacks a truly comparative perspective, since it practically ignores crime in the underdeveloped countries. Compariong with Western Europe is hardly enough. And the last ten pages, where the authors provide their recipe for combatting crime, are, to say the least disappointing. By proposing actions which are obviously non-viable, the authors transform their whole argument into an interesting, even fascinating, but useless academic exercise. One final point: The tendency of the authors to add "political correctness" to citations is unforgivable. What an author said anywhere between 150 and 80 years ago, should be cited as he/she wrote. Thus, in page 105, the introduction of a "her" in a citation of Marx is unnecessary and smacks of opportunism. The same can be said of the citation of James Truslow Adams in page 106, where the authors introduce a "and women". And before I forget, the table on page 103 places Australia and New Zealand low in homicide but also low on decommodification (monstruous word!), whereas Finland is higher in decommodification than the UK, but also higher in homicide. Don't these contradictions fatally weaken the argument of this chapter?

I was privileged to have Dr. Rosenfeld as a professor while majoring in criminology. I found his course and his research fascinating. This book is very well written and an interesting theory. Having recently become a public defender representing indigents charged with felony offenses, Dr. Rosenfeld's theory is right on the mark. American crime is a serious problem, with its roots deep in american culture and expectations. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the true roots of american crime.

This was a textbook in my university criminology class, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It applies the theory of anomic strain to the United States as a whole and proposes that it is the cause for crime and deviance. Many of the ideas and themes presented in it ring true with sentiments of Americans today, with the gap between the upper and lower class growing larger and larger.

DK eyewitness books are some of the greatest non-fiction books around. The distinctive white background and high-quality photography gives this book an edge over any other pirate picture book. And -- these pictures are real! They're beautiful photos of historically piratey things, accompanied by informative captions and text.

Learn about Anne Bonny, a fearsome female pirate, peruse the pictures of pirate treasure, from Spanish doubloons to richly ornamented crosses. Compare the different pirate flags, and learn about who made each one. Check out the different types of ships, authentic pirate clothes and weapons, and a storehouse of other REAL pirate information.

If you know someone (young or old) who is fascinated by all things pirate, then you must introduce them to this book! It's a visual crash course in pirateness, and it's excellent!

This book gives lots of fascinating information about the weapons and tactics pirates used. The information is divided into small fact capsules with illustrations, which keeps it from ever being boring or overwhelming. And there's so much on a page that the book's worth re-reading several times, in case of something missed or forgotten. A gotta-have for the piratically-minded!

This is a very good book with lots of facts about anything that has to do with piracy. If you are inturested in pirates, get it. It is well worth the money.

Now in its tenth edition, Legal Research: How To Find & Understand The Law by attorneys Stephen Elias and Susan Levinkind is a simple, direct, straightforward, "user friendly" guide to the extremely complicated and tricky topic of doing legal research. Individual chapters address how to properly frame questions in legal categories and efficiently look up relevant laws and case history. Legal Research is emphatically not a substitute for a consultation with an attorney; however, a close reading followed by judicious use of its fact-finding methods is a superbly effective way for non-specialist general readers to prepare themselves before sitting down with a billed-by-the-hour consultation with a licensed attorney or paralegal researcher!

If you have a modicum of introduction to the law, and need a guidebook on "how to" go about researching a legal question, this book is one of the best available. It does assume that you have some working knowledge of how law works, but is an especially good book for either first year law students or paralegal students beyond their introductory courses. Well worth having on your shelf.

I made a Minor Error....Section 18-9-111 of The Colorado Revised Statutes is a Class III Misdemeanor. By "Practice" alone, you will not be allowed access to a Court-Appointed Attorney or a Public Defender. By "Practice" alone you will be forced to complain to your District Attorney by means of "The Barker Test" about your lack of a Speedy Trial without using Profane or Vulgar Language - and about the D.A.'s not inforcing your State of Colorqado and The U.S. Constituttion's requierment to your being furnished a Court Appointed Attorney when you cannot purchase one. Don't forget to "Stand Mute" at any Arraignmment" that in the "Street Jargon" the Court of Colorado uses in calling your Arraignment a "First Appearance". After all, how can you enter a Plea of any kind withour your Contitutional Right to the Protection of a Defence Attorney? Don't forget to ask your Deputy D.A. for his/her business card so you can write the same "Barker Test" each week...to remind them that they went to a Law School of some kind, and are thought to be, by many, the Premier in Educated Minds in North America!

Once you are done with "The Barker Test" and have somehow acquiered a Public Defender, to write the Defender that you will have Letters of Memorandum to remind this Defender of what was said. Note that no one writes notes of conversations any more, and your Defender will need all the help you can give them! Please do not use much in the way of Latin Phrases, as this may scare the Defender into a Default or Reset mode....

Once you realize that you can do this as well as any attorney, be very afraid as your do "Discovery" from the D.A.'s office to find out what they have. Many Defenders are very busy

Mr. Behan's main theme in PLUNDERED PROMISE is how political and economic overshoot has led to the increasing plunder of public lands for private profit. His deeper look at how the growth of corporations, hyperconsumerism, and centralized oligarchical government has led to the plundering and degradation of US Federal lands frames our present Bush administration problems and he directs the reader to authors such as Cobb-Daly, Kemmis, Prugh, Yaffee, etc. for workable, practical solutions.

After a synoptic opening chapter, there are chapters on the first century of public land management, the rise of corporate capitalism at the start of the 20th century, the rise of professional management and 'sustained yield' at mid-century and finally, "The Economics and Politics of License: Corruption and Predatation, 1976 to the Present.

Behan's development of the concept of economic and political overshoot and how it effected public lands is of key importance to environmentalists. The history of the development of governmental subsidization of private use of public lands and the momentum of the growth economy in degrading forests, overgrazing grasslands, overfishing the commons, etc. is crucial. Revoking corporate charters and devolving government out of Washington to local 'neighbourhoods' are revolutionary tactics advocated to get the philistines out of the temple.

Good as Korten, Greider and Klein. Well worth your while.

Behan explains in fascinating detail many of the quirks -- mostly intentional -- that make our government behave today the way it does. The convoluted process that got George Bush elected is only a glimpse of the deep issues. He explains how it is virtually impossible, and has been since our foundation, to say we have rule by majority in our government. This is all explored from a foundation of federal land policy, but applies equally to the rest of our governmental operations. It was eye opening, and angering, to learn how we got where we are.

This book is worthwhile reading for anyone who proclaims a political opinion, or perhaps simply draws a breath. It is not an unbiased book, and you are unlikely to agree with every argument. I don't, but, after teaching forest policy and economics to university students for 25 years, I regret not having had the advantage of this book as a text. It would ideally complement a standard text in an undergraduate policy course, and it would serve well as core reading in a graduate seminar, supplemented by books on related topics. Several good choices, in fact, are cited in "Plundered Promise."

Behan is an engaging, provocative writer so his description of the evolution of land use policy in the United States is entertaining as well as instructive. He makes clear the process by which we have moved from the capitalistic ideal of individual private property ownership of all lands to one of reserving some lands to be held in common, and provides a logical defense for why we did it. The rationale, he notes, for maintaining such a "public good" has grown stronger with time. These public lands are a collective national treasure like no other in the world.

Behan then makes the case that we are hell-bent to squander this "promise" of the book's title. The great evil in this story is our unwitting, and presumably unwilling collaboration with modern (huge) corporations in a senseless, wasteful social party of conspicuous consumption. Modern corporations, many with global reach and stunning political and financial command, attempt to create demand for their massive and efficient production by devising market strategies to convince us to over consume; to acquire material goods as a measure of our social success and prosperity. The below-cost, ready access these giants have to our public lands treasure in order to supply their raw material needs, and for air, land and water sinks, requires consumers (all of us) to bear costs disproportionate to gains from such enterprise.

How have we been duped into this distorted market? Behan provides a fascinating and fresh perspective on the way America's founders contrived a unique constitional government that precludes majoritarian democracy. Political, legal and economic power has been concentrated among elites in Washington, D.C. Along the way, he notes, corporations were legally granted unique constitutional privileges. This argument deserves careful consideration. It is not the stuff of high school civics courses, or an uncritical recitation of the wisdom of free enterprise. It ties together the facts and the thesis of the book, and because it challenges the standard assumptions most Americans hold about their individual rights, prerogatives and powers, this argument alone makes the book required reading.

The way out of the jam, according to Behan, is for citizens to moderate their consumptive behavior, to resist the importuning of corporate advertisers, to pursue legal redress of corporate license, and to seize control of the political process at the local level. He offers specific examples of local or community level politics in practice, with attendant successes in resolving land use issues while protecting public land values. This resolution, while appropriate for many issues, and promising as an idealistic framework, seems less reassuring when one considers the complexities of international politics and global environmental issues. What can we do for a national energy policy, for example, wherein the real costs of our consumptive behavior, at whatever level, must be assessed globally and then allocated equitably among all of us? What can we do locally about issues that transcend national boundaries?

One optimistic notion that Behan suggests as a partial solution seems practical, and likely to work, and that is the power of Internet communication. This could facilitate the formation of "communities of interest" to address problems in ways that transcend normal geographical limits. Much needs to be done, and too much has been done badly, but the necessary dialogue has begun. Richard Behan's book, "Plundered Promise," is an essential component of that dialogue.

All I can say is that this is by far one of the best books that I have ever read on gun rights.

This book is well-written and well-documented. I would recommend that every American (or anyone else that cares about freedom) get this book and read it through. Though the title is provocative, the facts are laid out clearly inside.

Richard Mack's book, in very literate style, exposes some of the disguised movements the liberal left is promoting to disarm lawabiding citizens of their Constitutional Right of self defense. Mr. Mack illustrates several examples of the propaganda being put before the American Public,by the anti-gun crowd, with misleading titles to lure the unsuspecting into a "this must be a good thing" attitude. A must-read book for any American concerned about the slow erosion of our constitutional rights and in particular The 2nd Amendment. ...the right to keep and bear arms...

Approaching the music industry unarmed is similar to throwing a lame duck into a pool of festering sharks. It has the potential to be complete bloodshed all around. Whether a band trying to take the step from a basement experiment to the real world or a student considering the realm of entertainment as a career or a seasoned vet looking for that down-to-Earth interpretation of legalese, Music Law... can explain it all. From the standpoint of an educational tool, Music Law... acts as a great springboard into the complexities of the entertainment industry from more than a just a pure business and legal perspective. It approaches a series of complex industry issues with an ease of explanation which details nearly every issue that one would face in maintaining a music career. The finest quality of the Music Law... is the simplicity of the writing. Each chapter is broken down by subheads and cuts right to the meat-and-potatoes of issues everyone in the industry from a band, to a manager, to a label and beyond, has to face. The language is clear and concise, avoiding the convoluted language and overall wordiness business writing and legalese, while still explaining in detail the concepts at hand. Each real world example includes a simple, plain-English version of a contract or agreement to work in conjunction with the topic at hand, which is then dissected even further to define the points contract covers. By no means, however, should the scaled down versions of contracts and agreements in Music Law... be looked at as any more than a basic learning tool. There truly is no substitute for obtaining proper legal and business council or at least gaining a firmer understand of the subtitles of business writing and legal jargon. No simple turn of phrase carries the same weight as a properly worded and arranged contract and therefor the ideas presented in Music Law... should be treated as a guide to furthering your basic understanding of such wording rather than a substitute of such. The depth of the subjects Music Law... attempts to define and the breath of concepts it covers is stunning. From forming a band as a business entity, to touring and riders, to songwriting credits and royalty collection, to ownership issues and copyright and beyond, Music Law... takes more than a glancing look at it all in simple terms. Whether you are new to the entertainment business or an old hat looking at more simplistic detail Music Law... has the potential to be an invaluable resource to obtain a basic understanding of the business and legal aspects of the industry.

A friend forwarded me a copy of Mr. Stim's book, and I am very happy that they did. My band is in the beginning stages of securing an independent record deal. I found that after reading the book, I was able to go into a meeting with the record company and know what questions to ask. I had some clue as to what they were talking about! I like that he included the forms and instructions on how to fill them out. It is a good basic reference book to help you figure out what to do and how to do it in a straight forward manner! Thanks Nolo! You've done it again!

This book is a must for all involved in the business of Music. It gives an indept look at all the contracts you are likely to come across and explaines what to do and what not to do. As an up and coming manager I found this book fasinating. this book will always be on my desk and will be read over and over again. It is a great reference book and is a little(quite Big actually)Gem.

Judge Posner examines the reasons for Cardozo's reputation and, more important, analyzes the rhetorical methods the judge used in creating some of the most renowned and cited decisions in American law. How and why he crafted the statement of the facts a certain way for one decision, a different way for another; how Cardozo used a lawyer's persuasive skills in reaching results he believed were warranted. Posner also examines the inconsistencies in Cardozo's thinking and opinion-writing. The book presents a portrait of a brilliant, prudent jurist and illuminates his professional shortcomings as well. May have little appeal for the non-lawyer, but for anyone interested in legal writing, the judicial process, and opinion-making, this is a terrific book.

This may be the classic book by Posner. Shorter than most his books--and less encyclopaedic--but also less maiandering. Cardozo: A Study in Reputation stays on track, while revealing a complex sensibility of jurisprudence by Posner and an astounding intuition by Cardozo. In this book we see two great legal minds at work: Cardozo's providing the interpretations that further social welfare and Posner's explaining why these interpretations are so desirable.

I 'd rate this book the one MUST READ book if you are thinking about law school. This is what law school is about: Struggling with how to promote social welfare by interpretation and rulemaking.

Judge Posner builds and presents a strong case in defense of Justice Cardozo's reputation as a leading American jurist. Apparently, sometime during the 1950s a revisionary movement emerged in American legal thought that eventually injured Benjamin N. Cardozo. His Hemmingwayesque opinions were criticized as pedestrian, and the logic behind his reasoning was attacked as paternalistic. Judge Posner's thesis (a top-notch dissertation) deflects the subjective defamation and focuses upon objective standards of judicial measurement. Employing the resources of an electronic legal database, he proves that the Cardozo opinions, particularly those written as a judge in NY's Ct. of Appeals, have been consistently cited with regularity. This original test demonstrates that Cardozo's influence on the common law is unrivaled by any jurist other than O W Holmes.

Attempting to create a new genre of social science, Judge Posner smoothly integrates the drives that formed Cardozo as a man with the strictures of the law that define a judge. Analysis of the opinions, along with the briefs of the arguments, show that he was a good judge because he was able to reach correct results even when the specific facts of cases seemed to predict a legal anamoly. That quality produced case law that remains hard to reconcile, and the result has been attacks on the decisions as inconsistent. Judge Posner recognizes those weaknesses, but rather than contorting his logic in reconciling them explains that a man's reputation is typically based on either his high points or his low ones. In Cardozo's case, his death after only six years on the US Supreme Court limited the high points to controversial cases, such as MacPherson and Hynes. Judge Posner speculates that had Cardozo, like Holmes, had a full career as a Supreme Court justice the subjective standard for measurement of his reputation would have shifted away from the decisions as a state judge.

Although those state court opinions continue to dominate Torts textbooks, Cardozo's critics have injured his reputation by suggesting that he was merely a flamboyant local judge. Judge Posner shows that their slurs have not reached the ears of leading jurists. However, the ordinary person is apt to adopt those reputationary revisions without actually reading Cardozo's opinions and relating them to the specific cases and the development of American common law. Thus, Judge Posner creates a bridge, somewhat like Justice Cardozo, between arcane legal studies and the conduct of the people that law governs.

Anyone interested in Economic Analysis of Law should have this book of "legendary" Posner

Prior to 1960, legal scholars invoked economics only in a handful of specialized contexts -- mostly antitrust and taxation. But it was not generally thought that economic science had much of anything useful to say about the law generally.

Then, in the early 1960s, Guido Calabresi and Ronald Coase published a couple of papers that a lot of people found pretty darned interesting.

Richard Posner was one of those people. Within about a decade thereafter, he had written a massive treatise-textbook that attempted to apply (Chicago-school) economic insights to almost the entirety of the law, in part relying on Calabresi's insights on risk allocation and Coase's famous theorem about what happens in a world with no transaction costs.

That treatise-textbook is now in its fifth edition, and you're looking at the Amazon page for it. It would be hard to name a more influential work in the field of law and economics -- and even today, as Posner himself will gladly tell you, although there are a few other _textbooks_ on the topic, there are still no other _treatises_.

Posner's scope is breathtaking. Not content to limit himself to the usual array of legal topics (property, torts, contracts, criminal law, legal procedure, and so forth), he also manages to devote portions of his text to, e.g., sex and marriage, surrogate motherhood, prostitution, homosexuality, and a host of other controversial and/or marginal topics you don't typically encounter in an economics text.

The typical reader will probably not find him altogether persuasive on these topics. In fact, if you're anything like me, you'll probably wind up shaking your head in sheer wonderment: how is it possible for someone to be so brilliantly incisive on one page and so infuriatingly obtuse on the next?

But don't assume Posner is the one who's wrong. Don't misunderstand me; I think he _is_ sometimes the one who's wrong. But even then, his arguments are something to be reckoned with, not to be easily dismissed. (Nor is he _ever_ simply "obtuse.")

For the most part I think the book is a success in its more modest aim. In the fifth edition, Posner ends his opening chapter with a short reply to critics of the law and economics movement; with much of what he has to say here I can wholeheartedly agree. His work should, as he notes, be of _some_ interest to anyone who thinks Kaldor-Hicks efficiency/potential Pareto improvement plays any role whatsoever in setting policies. (I don't personally think it plays or should play much role at all, but I can agree with the point as Posner has stated it.) And Posner notes, quite unobjectionably, that the entire field should not be rejected merely because one does not accept the views of its most aggressive exponents.

But make no mistake, Posner _is_ one of its most aggressive exponents, and the apparent modesty of his aims is somewhat disingenuous: he is not merely trying to find out what economics can say about the law but to tell us that it can say quite a lot indeed. And it is here that I find him ultimately unconvincing on a number of points.

(To take one well-known example, I don't think Posner's discussion of the famous "Hand formula" captures what Judge Billings Learned Hand meant by it, and at any rate the formula is not as useful as Posner seems to think it is. There is some good discussion of the Hand formula by Richard Wright in _Philosophical Foundations of Tort Law_, and in general Posner has been roundly and in some respects successfully criticized by a wide range of scholars from Ronald Dworkin to Gary Schwartz.)

But there is no getting around this massive work, and it absolutely cannot be lightly dismissed. On the contrary, the thing bristles with fine insights and obviously massive legal and economic erudition; most of it will repay close reading even for the reader who ends up disagreeing. If you have any interest in the field of law and economics, you really ought to read this book _sometime_.

this is one of the most original and groundbreaking pieces of legal literature in history...Posner, one of the founders of the "chicago school" of law & economics applies the principles of ecomonics to analyze the entrire legal system from basic rules to underlying principles

"The FBI: A comprehensive reference guide" is a great book for information on FBI history and organization. I learned a lot about how the FBI carries out its mission by reading this book. This is a terrific reference.

The FBI Comprehensive Reference Guide is a very good resource for background information on the FBI. I have never seen a better book on the history and workings of the agency. I would recommend it, along with "FBI Careers" (by Thomas Ackerman), to anyone who is seeking FBI employment.

This book covers the history and evolution of the FBI from 1908 to the present from an objective point of view. It has been well researched by these four scholars. The essays are well written and organized in ten chapters. Each chapter gives an in depth explanation of the origins of the FBI, its changes through the years, the relationship with other state and federal law enforcement agencies as well as its relationship with the President, Congress and the media. The reader not only learns about the history of the FBI, but also will learn about 20th century U.S. history. The chapters on Notable Cases and the FBI's influence on the American popular culture are very interesting. This book is very useful not only for the those who are interested in learn about the FBI but also for historians, sociologists, criminologists.