by Norman F. Cantor ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1997
A well-researched but deliberately conversational look at the ``social, political, and cultural factors'' behind the origins and development of common law. In his approach to legal history, Cantor (Medieval Lives, 1994, etc.) draws on an idea from sociology: A developing system reaches a point at which ``compelling ideas and social structures attain a centrality of power that is expressed in a deep structure.'' He says that our legal system's deep structure emerged during the 12th century and was largely in place by the time of Henry VIII. One notable feature of that development was the jury of verdict; some early defendants agreed to it only because of judges' trickery or pressure—occasionally literal (stones were piled on the defendant's chest until he died or accepted the jury trial). Another feature was that the gentry shaped and exploited common law to serve their interests, particularly their interest in land. On the other hand, courts became willing to consider oral contracts and personal actions, such as liability—a change that eventually put legal remedy into the hands of the lower classes. Cantor's narrative is most engaging when he focuses on people, whether as social classes or individuals (e.g., his portrait of eminent lawyer Sir Edward Coke scrapping with King James I). At times, Cantor indulges in moments not so much of controversy as of baiting, as when discussing how 19th-century courts relaxed liability standards and took the heat off industrialists whose machines could mangle and kill workers. But hey, says Cantor, Germany and Japan, which industrialized with less brutal side effects, started terrible wars. That he conceives of no third possibility suggests at least a failure of imagination. Whether or not one agrees with Cantor's take on specifics, he persuasively argues that common law's roots are so deeply embedded in our culture that even a new Ice Age might not kill them.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-06-017194-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1997
Share your opinion of this book
More by Norman F. Cantor
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
Share your opinion of this book
More by Ludwig Bemelmans
BOOK REVIEW
developed by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
BOOK REVIEW
by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
BOOK REVIEW
by Charlayne Hunter-Gault ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1992
From the national correspondent for PBS's MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour: a moving memoir of her youth in the Deep South and her role in desegregating the Univ. of Georgia. The eldest daughter of an army chaplain, Hunter-Gault was born in what she calls the ``first of many places that I would call `my place' ''—the small village of Due West, tucked away in a remote little corner of South Carolina. While her father served in Korea, Hunter-Gault and her mother moved first to Covington, Georgia, and then to Atlanta. In ``L.A.'' (lovely Atlanta), surrounded by her loving family and a close-knit black community, the author enjoyed a happy childhood participating in activities at church and at school, where her intellectual and leadership abilities soon were noticed by both faculty and peers. In high school, Hunter-Gault found herself studying the ``comic-strip character Brenda Starr as I might have studied a journalism textbook, had there been one.'' Determined to be a journalist, she applied to several colleges—all outside of Georgia, for ``to discourage the possibility that a black student would even think of applying to one of those white schools, the state provided money for black students'' to study out of state. Accepted at Michigan's Wayne State, the author was encouraged by local civil-rights leaders to apply, along with another classmate, to the Univ. of Georgia as well. Her application became a test of changing racial attitudes, as well as of the growing strength of the civil-rights movement in the South, and Gault became a national figure as she braved an onslaught of hostilities and harassment to become the first black woman to attend the university. A remarkably generous, fair-minded account of overcoming some of the biggest, and most intractable, obstacles ever deployed by southern racists. (Photographs—not seen.)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-374-17563-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1992
Share your opinion of this book
More by Charlayne Hunter-Gault
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.