In this amazing story of high stakes competition between twotitans, Richard Moran shows how the electric chair developed notout of the desire to be more humane but through an effort by onenineteenth-century electric company to discredit the other. In 1882, Thomas Edison ushered in the “age of electricity” whenhe illuminated Manhattan’s Pearl Street with his direct current(DC) system. Six years later, George Westinghouse lit up Buffalowith his less expensive alternating current (AC). The two menquickly became locked in a fierce rivalry, made all the morecomplicated by a novel new application for their product: theelectric chair. When Edison set out to persuade the state of NewYork to use Westinghouse’s current to execute condemned criminals,Westinghouse fought back in court, attempting to stop the firstelectrocution and keep AC from becoming the “executioner’scurrent.” In this meticulously researched account of the ensuinglegal battle and the horribly botched first execution, Moran r

Courtroom 302 is the fascinating story of one year inChicago's Cook County Criminal Courthouse, the busiest felonycourthouse in the country. Here we see the system through the eyesof the men and women who experience it, not only in the courtroombut in the lockup, the jury room, the judge's chambers, thespectators' gallery. From the daily grind of the court to thehighest-profile case of the year, Steve Bogira’s masterfulinvestigation raises fundamental issues of race, civil rights, andjustice in America.

Throughout America’s history, our laws have been a reflectionof who we are, of what we value, of who has control. They embodyour society’s genetic code. In the masterful hands of the subject’sgreatest living historian, the story of the evolution of our lawsserves to lay bare the deciding struggles over power and justicethat have shaped this country from its birth pangs to the present.Law in America is a supreme example of the historian’s art, itsbrevity a testament to the great elegance and wit of itscomposition. From the Hardcover edition.

With profound insight into the complexities of the humanexperience, Harvard psychologist Gordon Allport organized a mass ofresearch to produce a landmark study on the roots and nature ofprejudice. First published in 1954, The Nature of Prejudice remainsthe standard work on discrimination. Now this classic study isoffered in a special unabridged edition with a new introduction byKenneth Clark of Columbia University and a new preface by ThomasPettigrew of Harvard University.Allport’s comprehensive andpenetrating work examines all aspects of this age-old problem: itsroots in individual and social psychology, its varieties ofexpression, its impact on the individuals and communities. Heexplores all kinds of prejudice-racial, religious, ethnic, economicand sexual-and offers suggestions for reducing the devastatingeffects of discrimination.The additional material by Clark andPettigrew updates the social-psychological research in prejudiceand attests to the enduring values of Allport’s original theoriesand

This book, based on the Tanner lectures on Human Values thatJustice Stephen Breyer delivered at Harvard University in November2004, defines the term “active liberty” as a sharing of thenation’s sovereign authority with its citizens. Regarding theConstitution as a guide for the application of basic Americanprinciples to a living and changing society rather than as anarsenal of rigid legal means for binding and restricting it,Justice Breyer argues that the genius of the Constitution rests notin any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead andgone, but in the adaptability of its great principles to cope withcurrent problems. Giving us examples of this approach in the areas of free speech,federalism, privacy, affirmative action, statutory interpretation,and administrative law, Justice Breyer states that courts shouldtake greater account of the Constitution’s democratic nature whenthey interpret constitutional and statutory texts. He also insiststhat the people, through partici

From prosecuting (and defending) murderers in the Bronx tohandling the public and private problems of Manhattan’s elite, Mouthpiece recounts the colorful adventures of New YorkCity’s ultimate legal operator. “In the pages before us, the Counselor tells a saga’s worth oftales of the city. As the saying goes, he’s got a million ofthem.” — Tom Wolfe, from his Introduction Edward Hayes is that unusual combination: the likable lawyer, onewho could have stepped off the stages of Guys and Dolls or Chicago . Mouthpiece is his story—an irreverent,entertaining, and revealing look at the practice of law in moderntimes and a social and political anatomy of New York City. Itrecounts Hayes’s childhood in the tough Irish sections of Queensand his eventual escape to the University of Virginia and then toColumbia Law School. Not at all white-shoe-firm material, Hayesheaded to the hair-raising, crime-ridden South Bronx of themidseventies—first as a homicide prosecutor and then as a defenseattor

People with disabilities forging the newest and last humanrights movement of the century.

For the first time, a collection of dissents from the mostfamous Supreme Court cases If American history can truly be traced through the majoritydecisions in landmark Supreme Court cases, then what about thedissenting opinions? In issues of race, gender, privacy, workers'rights, and more, would advances have been impeded or failuresrectified if the dissenting opinions were in fact the majorityopinions? In offering thirteen famous dissents-from Marbury v. Madison andBrown v. Board of Education to Griswold v. Connecticut and Lawrencev. Texas, each edited with the judges' eloquence preserved-renownedSupreme Court scholar Mark Tushnet reminds us that court decisionsare not pronouncements issued by the utterly objective, they are infact political statements from highly intelligent but partisanpeople. Tushnet introduces readers to the very concept of dissentin the courts and then provides useful context for each case,filling in gaps in the Court's history and providing an overview ofthe issues at

One Saturday morning in February 1972, an impoundment dam ownedby the Pittston Coal Company burst, sending a 130 million gallon,25 foot tidal wave of water, sludge, and debris crashing intosouthern West Virginia's Buffalo Creek hollow. It was one of thedeadliest floods in U.S. history. 125 people were killed instantly,more than 1,000 were injured, and over 4,000 were suddenlyhomeless. Instead of accepting the small settlements offered by thecoal company's insurance offices, a few hundred of the survivorsbanded together to sue. This is the story of their triumph overincredible odds and corporate irresponsibility, as told by GeraldM. Stern, who as a young lawyer and took on the case and won.

For more than two decades, Vanity Fair has published DominickDunne’s brilliant, revelatory chronicles of the most famous crimes,trials, and punishments of our time. Here, in one volume, areDominick Dunne’s mesmerizing tales of justice denied and justiceaffirmed. Whether writing of Claus von Bülow’s romp through twotrials; the Los Angeles media frenzy surrounding O.J. Simpson; thedeath by fire of multibillionaire banker Edmond Safra; or theGreenwich, Connecticut, murder of Martha Moxley and theindictment—decades later—of Michael Skakel, Dominick Dunne tells ithonestly and tells it from his unique perspective. His search forthe truth is relentless.

The Real ACT is the only book with insider test-taking tipsand strategy, practice tests, and insight from the makers of theACT. This comprehensive guide has everything one needs to knowabout the ACT-test content, structure, and format info! The only guide that includes 5 previously administered,full-length ACT tests written by the actual test maker (including 2NEW practice tests) ACT content and procedures you'll follow when actually taking thetest Valuable information about tuition payment plans All the question types you can expect to find on the ACT Suggestions on how you might approach the questions andPeterson's tried-and-true test-taking strategies and tips

?Over 3,000 legal terms defined ?Revised edition with the most up-to-date terminology

The bestselling business classic that Raytheon CEO William Swanson made famous . Every once in awhile, there is a book with a message so timeless,so universal, that it transcends generations. The Unwritten Lawsof Business is such a book. Originally published over 60 yearsago as The Unwritten Laws of Engineering , it has sold over100,000 copies, despite the fact that it has never been availablebefore to general readers. Fully revised for business readerstoday, here are but a few of the gems you’ll find in thislittle-known business classic: If you take care of your present job well, the future will takecare of itself. The individual who says nothing is usually credited with havingnothing to say. Whenever you are performing someone else’s function, you areprobably neglecting your own. Martyrdom only rarely makes heroes, and in the business world, suchheroes and martyrs often find themselves unemployed. Refreshingly free of the latest business fads and jargon, this is abook that is wise and insight

In pursuit of fairness at any cost, we have created a societyparalyzed by legal fear: Doctors are paranoid and principalspowerless. Little league coaches, scared of liability, stopvolunteering. Schools and hospitals start to crumble. The commongood fades, replaced by a cacophony of people claiming their“individual rights.” By turns funny and infuriating, this startling book dissects thedogmas of fairness that allow self-interested individuals to bullythe rest of society. Philip K. Howard explains how, trying to honorindividual rights, we removed the authority needed to maintain afree society. Teachers don’t even have authority to maintain orderin the classroom. With no one in charge, the safe course is toavoid any possible risk. Seesaws and diving boards are removed.Ridiculous warning labels litter the American landscape: “Caution:Contents Are Hot.” Striving to protect “individual rights,” we ended up losing muchof our freedom. When almost any decision that someone disagreeswi

In 1787, the American union was in disarray. The incompatibledemands of the separate states threatened its existence; somestates were even in danger of turning into the kind of tyranny theyhad so recently deposed. A truly national government was needed, one that could raisemoney, regulate commerce, and defend the states against foreignthreats–without becoming as overbearing as England. Sothirty-six-year-old James Madison believed. That summer, theVirginian was instrumental in organizing the ConstitutionalConvention, in which one of the world’s greatest documents would bedebated, created, and signed. Inspired by a sense of history in themaking, he kept the most extensive notes of any attendee. Now two esteemed scholars have made these minutes accessible toeveryone. Presented with modern punctuation and spelling, judiciouscuts, and helpful notes–plus fascinating background information onevery delegate and an overview of the tumultuous times–here is thegreat drama of how the Constituti

“We need a new idea of how to govern. The current system isbroken. Law is supposed to be a framework for humans to makechoices, not the replacement for free choice.” So notes Philip K.Howard in the new Afterword to his explosive manifesto The Deathof Common Sense . Here Howard offers nothing less than a fresh,lucid, practical operating system for modern democracy. America isdrowning—in law, lawsuits, and nearly endless red tape. Beforeacting or making a decision, we often abandon our best instincts.We pause, we worry, we equivocate, and then we divert our energyinto trying to protect ourselves. Filled with one too many examplesof bureaucratic overreach, The Death of Common Sense demonstrates how we—and our country—can at last get back ontrack.