The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law (Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference) [Hardcover]

Mr. Roger K. Newman (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300113005 | ISBN-13: 978-0300113006 | Publication Date: May 26, 2009

This book is the first to gather in a single volume concise biographies of the most eminent men and women in the history of American law. Encompassing a wide range of individuals who have devised, replenished, expounded, and explained law, The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law presents succinct and lively entries devoted to more than 700 subjects selected for their significant and lasting influence on American law.

 

Casting a wide net, editor Roger K. Newman includes individuals from around the country, from colonial times to the present, encompassing the spectrum of ideologies from left-wing to right, and including a diversity of racial, ethnic, and religious groups. Entries are devoted to the living and dead, the famous and infamous, many who upheld the law and some who broke it. Supreme Court justices, private practice lawyers, presidents, professors, journalists, philosophers, novelists, prosecutors, and others—the individuals in the volume are as diverse as the nation itself.

 

Entries written by close to 600 expert contributors outline basic biographical facts on their subjects, offer well-chosen anecdotes and incidents to reveal accomplishments, and include brief bibliographies. Readers will turn to this dictionary as an authoritative and useful resource, but they will also discover a volume that delights and entertains.

 

Listed in The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law:

John Ashcroft

Robert H. Bork

Bill Clinton

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Patrick Henry

J. Edgar Hoover

James Madison

Thurgood Marshall

Sandra Day O’Connor

Janet Reno

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

John T. Scopes

O. J. Simpson

Alexis de Tocqueville

Scott Turow

And more than 700 others

(20100101)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[A] marvelous, multifaceted pointilliste portrait of the good, the bad and the ugly faces of American jurisprudence through the centuries. . . . The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law is a delightfully engaging read. At times entertaining, at others chilling, it is consistently informative and instructive. Once you dip into it, you will find it hard to stop."—Martin Rubin, The Washington Times

(Martin Rubin The Washington Times )

Chosen as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2009 by Choice Magazine

(Choice )

“. . . this little gem manages to be scholarly yet surprisingly entertaining at the same time.”--Law Library Journal

(Law Library Journal )

About the Author

Roger K. Newman teaches at the Columbia University School of Journalism and has devoted nearly 40 years to studying and writing about the Supreme Court and American law. He is author of Hugo Black: A Biography, which won the Scribes book award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer prize, and editor-in-chief of The Constitution and Its Amendments (4 volumes). He lives in the Bronx, New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (May 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300113005
• ISBN-13: 978-0300113006
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,020,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Resource, July 23, 2010

By 

Ronald H. Clark (WASHINGTON, DC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law (Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference) (Hardcover)

This book is just an amazing and wonderful resource for anyone interested in the history and development of American law. The editor is the author of an outstanding biography of Justice Black, so he knows his stuff when it comes to writing biography. A publication of the "Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference," the editor's expertise is reinforced by that of the series' editorial board, comprised of nine leading practitioners of American legal history and biography. The book, which is beautifully printed on fine paper and oversized pages, contains around 700 short biographies, many with pictures of their subjects. They run in length from a page or so to several pages. Each biography, such as Andrew L. Kaufman's on Justice Cardozo, has several published references attached for further reading. Nearly 600 scholars contributed the bios, many of whom had written extensively on their subject. In his Introduction, the editor explains how the subjects were selected, his decision to include living figures, his election making 2005 the cutoff date, and his commitment to include individuals from groups previously excluded from such scholarly endeavors. A complete list of the contributors and their affiliations is included. I was surprised to see Edwin S. Gaustad, my old colonial history professor from the University of California, Riverside, included. So the range of contributors and their backgrounds is quite diverse and adds to the valuable perspectives articulated in the bios.

The editor opines: "To understand law, one must understand its leading figures." These bios go a long way toward helping us attain that goal. I must warn that these bios are like bon bons or potato chips--"one is never enough." You can turn to any page at random and find several interesting bits of information. The bios also strike the golden mean: long enough to be complete and full of substance; short enough that an inordinate amount of time is not required to read them. Reading one gives you a pretty good initial perspective on the individual under discussion. Good scholarship can be fun to read, as well as informative--this book certainly proves it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Altogether Excellent, February 10, 2011

By 

Joel D. Treese (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law (Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference) (Hardcover)

This book is a surprising, remarkable anomaly: a biographical reference work with entries so crisply and vividly written that it can be a compulsive page-turner. A marvelous resource for anyone interested in the wide-ranging influence the men and women who interpret, teach, practice and administer the law have on our society.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Legal Theory Resource, November 30, 2010

By 

William H. Wright - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law (Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference) (Hardcover)

I found that book to be an all encompassing legal theoretical journey through American Law and jurisprudence. The wide array and variety of scholarly authors absolutely attributed this manuscript to be at the forefront of law and criminal justice professors preferred book list in their personal libraries. I think that it will be years to come before another legal theory book such as this is published.