Wilbert Rideau, an award-winning journalist who spentforty-four years in prison, delivers a remarkable memoir of crime,punishment, and ultimate triumph. After killing a bank teller in a moment of panic during a botchedrobbery, Wilbert Rideau was sentenced to death at the age ofnineteen. He spent several years on death row at Angola before hissentence was commuted to life, where, as editor of the prisonnewsmagazine The Angolite, he undertook a mission to expose andreformLouisiana's iniquitousjustice system from the inside. Vivid,incisive, and compassionate, this is a detailed account of prisonlife and a man who accepted responsibility for his actions andworked to redeem himself. It is a story about not giving up;finding love in unexpected places; the power of kindness; and theability to do good, no matter where you are.

David Boies, the star trial lawyer in a country obsessedwith legal drama, proves endlessly fascinating in this compulsivelyreadable account of his extraordinary career.A man of almostsuperhuman accomplishment, Boies argued a string of headline-makingcases before being catapulted to international prominence when herepresented Al Gore before the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore. Brash, reckless, and prideful, he is also charming,charismatic, unerringly articulate in the courtroom, and supremelycomfortable in the public eye. Legal journalist Karen Donovan,herself a lawyer, had unprecedented access to Boies for nearly twoyears. In v. Goliath she gives us a scintillating chronicleof the legal dramas in which Boies has played a crucial role and ariveting, up-close portrait of a singularly gifted lawyer.

From abortion to same-sex marriage, today's most urgentpolitical debates will hinge on this two-part question: What didthe United States Constitution originally mean and who nowunderstands its meaning best? Rakove chronicles the Constitutionfrom inception to ratification and, in doing so, traces its complexweave of ideology and interest, showing how this document has meantdifferent things at different times to different groups ofAmericans.

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

In this 2008 book, legal scholars, philosophers, historiansand political scientists from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, theUnited Kingdom and the United States analyze the common law throughthree of its classic themes: rules, reasoning andconstitutionalism. Their essays, specially commissioned for thisvolume, provide an opportunity for thinkers from differentjurisdictions and disciplines to talk to each other and to theirwider audience within and beyond the common law world. This bookallows scholars and students to consider how these themes andconcepts relate to one another. It will initiate and sustain a moreinclusive and well-informed theoretical discussion of the commonlaw's method, process and structure. It will be valuable tolawyers, philosophers, political scientists and historiansinterested in constitutional law, comparative law, judicialprocess, legal theory, law and society, legal history, separationof powers, democratic theory, political philosophy, the courts andthe relationship of the comm

Nobel laureate Niko Tinbergen laid the foundations for thescientific study of animal behaviour with his work on causation,development, function and evolution. In this book, an internationalcast of leading animal biologists reflect on the enduringsignificance of Tinbergen's groundbreaking proposals for modernbehavioural biology. It includes a reprint of Tinbergen's originalarticle on the famous 'four whys' and a contemporary introduction,after which each of the four questions are discussed in the lightof contemporary evidence. There is also a discussion of the widersignificance of recent trends in evolutionary psychology andneuroecology to integrate the 'four whys'. With a foreword by oneof Tinbergen's most prominent pupils, Aubrey Manning, thiswide-ranging book demonstrates that Tinbergen's views on animalbehaviour are crucial for modern behavioural biology. It willappeal to graduate students and researchers in animal behaviour,behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology.

An English court in 1736 described rape as an accusation“easily to be made and hard to be proved, and harder to be defendedby the party accused, though never so innocent. ”To prove thecrime, the law required a woman to physically resist, to put up a“hue and cry,” as evidence of her unwillingness. Beginning in the1970s, however, feminist and victim-advocacy groups began changingattitudes toward rape so the crime is now seen as violent initself: the legal definition of rape now includes everything fromthe sadistic serial rapist to the eighteen-year-old who hasconsensual sex with a fourteen-year-old. This inclusiveness means there are now more rapists among us. Andmore of rape’s camp followers: the prison-makers, the communitywatchdogs, law-and-order politicians, and the real-crime/real-timeentertainment industry. Vanessa Place examines the ambiguity ofrape law by presenting cases where guilt lies, but lies uneasily,and leads into larger ethical questions of what defines guilt, whatis justice, and wh

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.

This book was first published in 2009. In the late-seventeenthcentury, Quakers originated a unique strain of constitutionalism,based on their theology and ecclesiology, which emphasizedconstitutional perpetuity and radical change through popularpeaceful protest. While Whigs could imagine no other means ofdrastic constitutional reform except revolution, Quakers deniedthis as a legitimate option to governmental abuse of authority andadvocated instead civil disobedience. This theory of a perpetualyet amendable constitution and its concomitant idea of popularsovereignty are things that most scholars believe did not existuntil the American Founding. The most notable advocate of thistheory was Founding Father John Dickinson, champion of Americanrights, but not revolution. His thought and action have beenmisunderstood until now, when they are placed within the Quakertradition. This theory of Quaker constitutionalism can be traced ina clear and direct line from early Quakers through Dickinson toMartin Luther King, J

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

Simple Justice is the definitive history ofthe landmark case Brown v. Board of Education and the epicstruggle for racial equality in this country. Combining intensiveresearch with original interviews with surviving participants,Richard Kluger provides the fullest possible view of the human andlegal drama in the years before 1954, the cumulative assaults onthe white power structure that defended segregation, and thestep-by-step establishment of a team of inspired black lawyers thatcould successfully challenge the law. Now, on the fiftiethanniversary of the unanimous Supreme Court decision that endedlegal segregation, Kluger has updated his work with a new finalchapter covering events and issues that have arisen since the bookwas first published, including developments in civil rights andrecent cases involving affirmative action, which rose directly outof Brown v. Board of Education.

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.

This historical narrative of the Salem witch trials takesits dialogue from actual trial records but applies modernpsychiatric knowledge to the witchcraft hysteria. Starkey's senseof drama also vividly recreates the atmosphere of pity and terrorthat fostered the evil and suffering of this human tragedy.

In 1787. . . We were given the right to practice the religion of ourchoice. We were given the right to say what we wanted withoutpersecution. It was written that our house and property were secure fromunreasonable search and seizure. We were given the right to apublic trial. Fifty-five men we will never know sat in a sweltering room andfought for us. We were given our rights as citizens of the United States. Every second fall, as we return again to the ballot box to decidethe course of our country’s leadership, every voter must find theirway back to that room in Philadelphia. Welcome Books is proud toprovide a map. The Constitution of the United States of America, inscribed andillustrated by the master calligrapher, Sam Fink, brings to lifethe issues underlying the triumphs of this abiding document.Originally published in pen and ink for Random House in 1987, Mr.Fink has gone back to his original black-and-white art and paintedit anew, created a full-color ma

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

The Religious Right has dedicated much of the last thirty years to molding the federal judiciary, always with an eye toward casting the Supreme Court in its image. Through broad political work that has involved grassroots campaigns as much as aggressive lobbying, and a welltended career path for conservative law students and attorneys, the Right has been incredibly effective in influencing major Court decisions on everything from laws banning prayer in school to women's secure access to abortion and birth control. How will the courts set in place in recent decades confront stem cell research, gay rights, or euthanasia in a new era? In The Court and the Cross, attorney and legal journalist Frederick Lane draws on legal history and savvy political analysis to expose, in layperson's terms, the Religious Right's unrelenting efforts to declare the United States a Christian nation.

This 2005 book argues that Europeanization and globalizationhave led to ever-more intensive legalization at transnationallevel. What accounts for compliance beyond the nation-state? Theauthors tackle this question by comparing compliance withregulations that have been formulated in a very similar way atdifferent levels of governance. They test compliance with rules atthe national level, at the regional level (EU), and at a globallevel (WTO), finding that in fact the EU has higher levels ofcompliance than both international and national rules. The authorsargue that this is because the EU has a higher level oflegalization, combined with effective monitoring mechanisms andsanctions. In this respect it seems that the European Union hasindeed achieved a high level of legalization and compliance, thoughthe authors add that this achievement does not settle the relatedqueries with the legitimacy of transnational governance andlaw.