Customer Reviews:
(RAW Rating: 4.5) - What is happening to black men?.......2007-08-04
Demico Boothe has explored the reasons so many black men are indeed in prison in, WHY ARE SO MANY BLACK MEN IN PRISON? He begins with his own story of a shaky upbringing and his subsequent dabbling in drug dealing. He was caught with a few grams of crack cocaine but because it was the dreaded crack, he was given 10 years in prison. When he left prison after serving his time, he was actually railroaded back into prison by a crooked justice system. He delves deeply into our justice system and the motives behind all the new prisons that are being built. He gives succinct and reasonable views of exactly what is happening now in the United States and how the past has played a role in the present. He uses persuasive statistics regarding the number of black men in prison as compared to the number of white men who are incarcerated.
Demico Boothe has done an excellent job of researching his subject and it is a plus, if unfortunate for him, that he has actually experienced first hand what he's talking about. I knew I was hearing the real story rather than just statistics from an intellectual who had no real idea of what the prison system is really like. I would have liked for Boothe to search a little deeper into the Haiti, Aristide and USA question, maybe even reading Randall Robinson's take on the situation, and then he might see it a bit differently. Otherwise, it is a good book and one every one in America should read. We indeed, have a crisis going on.
Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Why Are So Many Black Men In Prison? A Comprehensive Account Of How And Why The Prison Industry Has Become A Predatory Entity In.......2007-06-09
The book was very interesting. I learned soooo much about the government and the prison industry. I did some searching independantly to check on the things reported in the book and they are very true. Great Read!! Buy the book.
A Must Read.......2007-05-25
Mr. Demico's book is a must-read for anyone concerned about young African American men. Although I did not agree with every conclusion he reached, Demico's main premises are convincing. As a white woman who teaches mainly students of color, I am always impressed, and often in awe, of those young men who reach college with so much going against them. Demico's books lays bare not only the horrible inequalities of our society, but also the racist attitudes of our political system - - Democrats, Republicans, and most everyone in between.
Why are so many Black Men in Prison?.......2007-05-13
I is a well put together book. He really goes into a lot of detail of how our society is really set up.
Why are so many blacks in prison?.......2007-05-12
I found this book very interesting. As a white devil myself, I had no idea that I was responsible for forcing blacks into committing crimes and then subsequently clogging up the whole "Prison Industrial Complex"(tm). I will try to stop causing this, as I am sure it is creating a LOT of trouble for everyone! Sorry!
It is probably also my fault that young black men dressed in XXXXL clothes overtly threaten me and my family members routinely. Can anyone tell me what I should do to make this not happen?
I imagine it's also my fault that black on white violent crime is WAY higher than white on black violent crime, even though blacks constitute about 12.5% of the population, and whites are about 70%. But since it is impossible for a black to commit a hate crime according to our criminal justice system (since blacks are not under any circumstances racist), statistically, there are more white on black hate crimes. Boothe notes a statistic regarding hate crimes, but he skips the one about interracial violence in general.
In sum, Boothe notes that just about everything blacks do is actually MY fault, because my skin is white. Boothe, I've got a word for you.
Introspection.
Book Description
The past 30 years have seen vast changes in our attitudes toward crime. More and more of us live in gated communities; prison populations have skyrocketed; and issues such as racial profiling, community policing, and "zero-tolerance" policies dominate the headlines. How is it that our response to crime and our sense of criminal justice has come to be so dramatically reconfigured? David Garland charts the changes in crime and criminal justice in America and Britain over the past twenty-five years, showing how they have been shaped by two underlying social forces: the distinctive social organization of late modernity and the neoconservative politics that came to dominate the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980s.
Garland explains how the new policies of crime and punishment, welfare and security—and the changing class, race, and gender relations that underpin them—are linked to the fundamental problems of governing contemporary societies, as states, corporations, and private citizens grapple with a volatile economy and a culture that combines expanded personal freedom with relaxed social controls. It is the risky, unfixed character of modern life that underlies our accelerating concern with control and crime control in particular. It is not just crime that has changed; society has changed as well, and this transformation has reshaped criminological thought, public policy, and the cultural meaning of crime and criminals. David Garland's The Culture of Control offers a brilliant guide to this process and its still-reverberating consequences.
Book Description
Across America today gated communities sprawl out from urban centers, employers enforce mandatory drug testing, and schools screen students with metal detectors. Social problems ranging from welfare dependency to educational inequality have been reconceptualized as crimes, with an attendant focus on assigning fault and imposing consequences. Even before the recent terrorist attacks, non-citizen residents had become subject to an increasingly harsh regime of detention and deportation, and prospective employees subjected to background checks. How and when did our everyday world become dominated by fear, every citizen treated as a potential criminal? In this startlingly original work, Jonathan Simon traces this pattern back to the collapse of the New Deal approach to governing during the 1960s when declining confidence in expert-guided government policies sent political leaders searching for new models of governance. The War on Crime offered a ready solution to their problem: politicians set agendas by drawing analogies to crime and redefined the ideal citizen as a crime victim, one whose vulnerabilities opened the door to overweening government intervention. By the 1980s, this transformation of the core powers of government had spilled over into the institutions that govern daily life. Soon our schools, our families, our workplaces, and our residential communities were being governed through crime. This powerful work concludes with a call for passive citizens to become engaged partners in the management of risk and the treatment of social ills. Only by coming together to produce security, can we free ourselves from a logic of domination by others, and from the fear that currently rules our everyday life.
Customer Reviews:
Imaginative interpretation of the most recent phase of US history.......2007-10-07
I've read plenty of books that deal with questions of the growth of mass incarceration and surveillance in US society, the 'culture of fear' paranoia that defines much of our popular political culture, etc. and so I thought this book would mainly cover familiar material. But I was wrong. Jonathan Simon offers a fresh interpretation of these developments. Central to the development of 'governing through crime' is the emergence of the crime victim as the central figure around which political debate revolves, and the identification of supporting police/prisons/death penalty with solidarity with that victim. Simon shows how this has raised the profile (and political power) of prosecutors and governors (most of our presidents recently, in part because of their ability to wield the death penalty). On the other hand, this development has thrown the judiciary on the defensive, as it is perceived as an obstacle to victim's righteous vengeance through their representatives, the police. Simon also deals with the way crime has defined the governance of families, schools, and, perhaps most originally, workplaces. In the latter, as unions have collapsed, charges of the crime of discrimination have become one of the few recourses workers have against employer power. At the same time, employers treat workers as potentially dangerous criminals who may be responsible for violence in the workplace. Simon ends by tying the logic and limits of governing through crime to the failings of the US in stopping, and later reacting to, the attacks of 9-11.
Simon does not have much to say about the economic changes that have accompanied and been intertwined with the practice of governing through crime. For that you should read Christian Parenti's Lockdown America or Ruth Wilson Gilmore's Golden Gulag. Nevertheless, this book should also definitely be on your reading list to understand this disturbing trend.
a brilliant analysis.......2007-06-03
How is it that the American state continues to grow in a politically conservative age? Professor Simon argues that the growth of federal crime control policy is the key to understanding this phenomenon. Beginning in the 1960s, and continuing through to century's end, the willingness of national politicians to assume responsibility for crime fighting and the establishment of social order has allowed the federal government to grow, even after Americans grew to doubt the ability of Washington D.C. to solve social and economic problems in the wake of the Great Society. Conservative Chief Executives promised to use the powers of the federal government to stop crime and social disorder and to secure Americans from all manner of threats to life and property. The fact that crime was in fact rising in the 1960s and 1970s gave the crime issue the needed salience to make crime control a seemingly legitimate policy goal for Washington D.C.
Professor Simon excavates how the image and substance of crime fighting proved to be manna for the continued aggrandizement of executive power in the American federal state. Also, conservative politicians in both parties worked in the legislative branch to delegate powers in crime fighting to the President, as well as governors, mayors and district attorneys at the state and local level. For Simon, the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 was the key legislative template for this process; thus, that act ranks right up with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as one of the most important laws of the decade, though most Americans have never heard of it.
Simon covers this process in the first half of the book. That is his explanation for the modern American state. What about modern American society? In the second half of the book Professor Simon shows how the rhetoric and strategies behind federal crime control policy replicate themselves in all manner of lived experiences in America, from residential patterns, to the acceptance of surveillance in the work place, to the disciplining of students in schools through zero tolerance policies for any sort of real or perceived misbehavior.
This is a great book describing how crime and fear of crime governs our sense of proper governance and, indeed, life. I'd have preferred a bit more on how imperatives of foreign policy work to create a crime control state in domestic policy. How, for example, does the need to surveil foreign activity through the CIA and NSA work to grow federal domestic law enforcement through the FBI, DEA and state and local law enforcement?
This is a quibble though. Read this book to understand how America became security obsessed in the last decades of the twentieth century, and how we can approach strategies for a healthier polity and a more beneficial relationship to our fellow citizens and government.
Book Description
Offering a unique look at subcategories of delinquent youth, primarily suburban youth, Wooden/Blazak use qualitative research strategies to explore how basically good kids can move from the fringes of society to delinquent activities. Accordingly, this text investigates everything from the harmless life of the mall rat to the volatile and dangerous world of skinheads, Satanists, and tagger crews, as well as the culture in the California Youth Authority. This new edition includes more information about girls and different races, as well as the latest information about group typologies. The author quotes from the popular media to highlight his points and make conceptual material relevant to students.
Customer Reviews:
Good Subject Matter With Outdated Statistics.......2005-05-09
This book contains a wealth of information on the deviant youth subculture. Unfortunately, it uses grossly outdated statistics and research. There is no excuse for claiming to discuss and explore the current youth subculture using research from the mid 1960s and statistics from the early 1980s.
For anyone studying adolescents, stay clear of this book.......1999-11-12
This book is grossly misinformed. Wooden makes no attempt to study his subject. Rather, he regurgitates things read from letters and pamphlets. He describes one stereotype after another and makes very broad generalizations that would get a professional in trouble. In particular, his chapters on Satanism and the Punk movement sound just like a Donahue episode. He never even speaks to a punk. Instead, in his chapter on Punks, he reads letters from parents and others who have been affected in some way by Punk, obviously biasing the research. That is only one chapter I could pick apart. In conclusion, Wooden is very out of touch with the real issues being presented. I am very angry I bought this book and am surprised he was even published. The fact that he is an award-winning author makes me want to become a writer.
A LOOK INSIDE OUR YOUTH.......1999-06-11
THIS BOOK IS VERY INFORMATIVE. ANYONE WHO WORKS, OR IS INTERESTED INWORKING WITH YOUTH SHOULD READ IT. WHEN I STARTED READING IT I COULD NOT STOP. INETERSTING. HOWEVER, IT IS SOMEWHAT BASIC AND COMMUN KNOLEDGE. WITH NO TRULY INSIGHT INTO THE REASONING.
Must read for anyone working with adolescents.......1998-07-16
I wanted to say that I am glad that I took this class with Dr. Wooden, the author, he gives a lot of insights into the world of the adolescents. He gives definitions that are clearly described so that you know the difference between a delinquent and one that does something because it is the "in thing" to do. Gives a great view and intensive study on the behavior of teenagers today compared to the past decade.
Book Description
In this wide-ranging analysis, Michael Tonry argues that those responsible for crafting America's criminal justice policy have lost their way in a forest of good intentions, political cynicism, and public anxieties. American crime control politics over time have created a punishment system no one would knowingly have chosen yet one that no one seems able to change. Prevailing sensibilities rather than timeless truths govern the American war on crime, resulting in policies both wasteful and harsh. U.S. crime trends closely resemble those of other nations, yet American policies, shaped by different sensibilities, are much more punitive. Seamlessly blending history with an easy presentation of day-to-day realities and empirical evidence, Tonry proposes tangible, specific solutions that can serve as a platform for criminal justice reform. We know how to create an effective and humane criminal justice system. Now we must have the courage to do so, by abandoning the current status quo, which is both costly and cruel in favor of practices that will move America closer to the mainstream of contemporary Western values.
Customer Reviews:
Praise for THINKING ABOUT CRIME.......2004-02-27
"Here we have solid insights into a system gone awry. The cost is needless suffering and huge distortions in our spending priorities."--Paul Simon, former U.S. Senator, Illinois
REVIEW.......2004-02-26
From the Publisher: "Michael Tonry is one of the most provocative editors and authors in matters of crime policy. In "Thinking About Crime," he challenges the spate of punitive actions that characterized the final third of the last century. He brings historical and cross-national perspectives to this important inquiry into how America's punishment polices went out of control. Drawing on his extensive experience in sentencing and corrections, he provides a number of sober suggestions for bringing restraint back into the punishment process. This is an important book that should be widely read and discussed." --Al Blumstein, "The Crime Drop"
REVIEW.......2004-02-26
From the Publisher: "No one would have chosen the criminal justice system America now has....it is too severe, too expensive, and locks up too many black and poor Americans. In this brilliant book, Michael Tonry shows how things came to be as they are, and how they can be made better." Carol Moseley Braun,former U.S. Senator, Illinois
Exceptional.......2004-02-26
Anyone making criminal justice policy should read "Thinking About Crime." In this book, Michael Tonry closely examines the very different ways nations have responded to changing crime patterns and shifting cultural sensibilities over the past several decades. In so doing, he offers an intriguing analysis of how and why the United States has emerged at the beginning of the twenty-first century with by far the most punitive but by no means the most effective punishment policy. His ability to navigate complexities and render them obvious, makes this important book a pleasure to read.
Average customer rating:
- Names galore
- The reality behind justice
- Well written, but repetitive
- Human comedy: celebrity trials expose the comedy of human existence
- My most unusual review
|
Justice: Crimes, Trials, and Punishments
Dominick Dunne
Manufacturer: Crown
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ASIN: 0609608738 |
Amazon.com
"In my everyday life over the last fifty years, it has been my curious lot to move among the rich and famous and powerful, always as an outsider, always listening, watching, remembering."
Writing about the crimes of the rich and famous for Vanity Fair with this insider's status, Dominick Dunne has borne witness to the often bizarre personalities who surround high-profile cases and their telling intimacies. Andrea Reynolds, for instance, dressed only in a negligee and jewelry, insists that her jewels are finer than those of the comatose woman in whose apartment she resides and whom her lover, Claus von Bulow, is charged with attempting to murder. The essays in Justice offer a fascinating, disturbing, and wry look at the cast of a half dozen high-profile trials, including Lyle and Erik Menendez, who murdered their affluent parents; Marvin Pancoast, who beat the $18,000-a-month mistress of Alfred Bloomingdale to death with a baseball bat; the multibillionaire banker Edmund Safra, who suffocated in his own bunker-like bathroom in Monaco; and the gossiping members of Los Angeles society during "All O.J., All the Time."
The most moving story by far is the title piece, about the murder of Dunne's daughter, the actress Dominique Dunne, by her ex-boyfriend, who walked away with a pitifully light sentence thanks to the extremes taken by his defense lawyer and the vanity of the judge. While the succeeding stories don't have the same poignancy, Dunne still makes them personal--after all, he knows many of those involved, and justice truly is personal for him. In fact, it is this moral authority that enables him to enter the strange universe of high-society crime and write about it with no pretense of objectivity, but rather with rage toward the short shrift justice is so often given in celebrity cases. The counterpoint to his anger is a delicious irony in the form of fascinating subplots, jet-set gossip, and terrific quotes straight from some of the horses' mouths. Dunne has both a sharp sense of the absurd and a trenchant eye for injustice in any form. --Lesley Reed
Book Description
For more than two decades, Vanity Fair has published Dominick Dunne's brilliant, revelatory chronicles of the most famous crimes, trials, and punishments of our time. The pursuit of justice has become his passion — a passion that began during the trial of the man who murdered Dunne's daughter and who was sentenced to six and a half years and released in less than three. Dunne's account of that trial and its shocking result became the first of his many classic essays on justice.
Dominick Dunne's essays do much more than simply describe; his investigations have shed new light on those crimes and their perpetrators — and demonstrated how it is possible for some to skirt, even flout, the law. His persistence and personal involvement in the matter of Martha Moxley's murder was an important catalyst in bringing a dormant case back to life.
Here in one volume are Dominick Dunne's mesmerizing tales of justice denied and justice affirmed. Whether writing of Vicki Morgan's hideous death; Claus von Bülow's romp through two trials; the media frenzy of Los Angeles in the age of O.J. Simpson; the death by fire of multibillionaire banker Edmund Safra in Monaco; or the ominous silence surrounding the death of Martha Moxley in Greenwich, Connecticut, and the indictment — decades later — of Michael Skakel, Dominick Dunne tells it honestly and tells it from his unique perspective. His search for the truth is relentless. His courage and his storytelling skills shine from every page.
Customer Reviews:
Names galore.......2007-09-14
The man cannot string two words together without name dropping. It is disgusting and so is he.
The reality behind justice.......2007-07-10
A fascinating book into how high priced lawyers can convince any jury your Mother is worse than a serial killer. Essentially that is the conclusion I got from the book.
Some of the stories are too long and complicated with lots of names, so that is why I am giving it 4 instead of 5 stars. It also was not clear to me what exactly happened in some of the murders, particularly the last one on Safre.
Well written, but repetitive.......2007-03-23
Most of these pieces appeared in Vanity Fair, and the overlap in some of them about the O.J. Simpson trial is left in. About 10 minutes worth of editing could have solved that problem. Otherwise, this is a passionate account of Dunne's view of several of the high profile cases he's made a career of covering since exiting the movie business. The most interesting is the case of his own daughter's murderer, but the Menendez stories and the Michael Skakel case make fascinating prose. Definitely worth reading, even now, long after these trials ended.
Human comedy: celebrity trials expose the comedy of human existence .......2007-01-11
Dominick Dunne received a lifeline from a Washington Post reporter seeking to report the story of David Begelman's forgery. Dunne felt he was a Hollywood failure, and so, he admits, the desire for revenge drove him to help the reporter get his story. In 1982 Dunne's daughter, Dominique, was murdered. He felt the trial of her killer was a travesty. The author's first magazine piece for VANITY FAIR concerned that trial. Dunne covered the retrial of Claus von Bulow. Trials can be boring, but people involved in them are not. He had gone to Hollywood to work on PLAYHOUSE 90 with Martin Manulis.
In writing about the trial focusing on Dominique's death, Dunne repeats the adage that the murder victim is always placed on trial. In trials, journalists jockey for position. Trial-going in Hollywood highlights dysfunctions in the criminal justice system. Where the fact-finder fails to be impartial, and/or where the lawyer-teams opposing each other are disproportionate in terms of resources, results are skewed. A trial, of course, is theater. The glare of publicity never seems to serve the ends of justice; but, of course, injustices may also take place in relative obscurity.
What Dominick Dunne brings to trial reportage is his experience as the parent of a murder victim and his knowledge of the customs of the entertainment industry. Dunne reports that in the trial of O.J. Simpson the public sent bouquets of flowers to the participants. Juries don't like female prosecutors but do like female defense attorneys. The author believes an effective defense attorney must possess a mean streak. Most of the book's chapters are devoted to the Simpson case. Monte Carlo has been described as a sunny place for shady people. Edmond Safer, a financier, died there in a fire. A Dunne fiction work, A SEASON IN PURGATORY, was based on the Martha Moxley murder case. When he wrote his novel, that case had not been solved, even after some twenty odd years.
My most unusual review.......2006-11-02
I have never written a review like this before, and feel compelled to share my thoughts, honest and forward, to anyone considering reading this book.
I picked it up and could not put it down.
I wish I had never read it.
It is a book that is so terribly sad, especially with the story of the author's daughter's murder, and it is written with a skill that is not often seen: a combination of honesty, pithy expressions, pain, joy, and a constellation of emotions that all masterfully come together.
Why do I wish I had never read it?
If you have any connection to the court system, you already know that lying is so common place that it is frightening. People swear an oath and lie with impunity, but reading of the injustice, for instance, that this man suffered in his daughter's murder, or all the spin that OJ's "dream team" used, in short clips to reporters, feeding the public red herrings; deliberate lies, knowing that public influence will reach even a sequested jury, is just horrible to read. The glam of hollywood is sickening and reading about how terribly hated white people were by blacks supporting OJ...knowing that this woman, who was brutally murdered along with an innocent bystander, only to hear that a male black juror could say, "she got what she deserved" is sickening. It brought back all those terrible emotions as race relations in 1994 revealed a black on white hatred that I was, quite frankly, ignorant of its depth.
Reading of wealthy scoundrels like Johnnie Cochrin and others is very difficult. You wonder whether or not these talented men possessed a conscience. The only comforting thought it that in the afterlife, Providence will decree justice. The man with the long record of violence against women, of which record the judge (wink, wink to the defense attorney he was buddies with) would not allow to be admitted, served 2 1/2 years for the murder of a bright and wonderful young woman is almost more than the reader can bear. Dunne brings you into this pain; perhaps as close as a stranger can come to feeling the maddening frustration that he and his family felt during this trial. How Dunne was able to do this, is beyond me, but he did it. Don't read the book if you cannot bear to be that close to pain.
It reminds me of the story of Bob Dylan, giving an interview in 1974, after many years of not talking to the press. The woman interviewing him starts off with, "I just want to say that I really enjoy your new album, Blood on the Tracks". Dylan says, "I can't understand anyone enjoying that much pain" and gets up and walks out.
I wanted to stop reading, quite often, but continued.
Reader: proceed with caution. It is not about race, as people of decency, no matter what race, will be terribly upset by what they read.
Book Description
This ambitious and imaginative work interprets criminal justice history by relating it to intellectual and cultural history. Starting from the assumption that policies and statutes originate in a society's values and norms, the author skillfully and persuasively demonstrates how changes in criminal law and penal practice were related to the changing values of early, mid, and late Victorian and Edwardian society. Wiener traces changes in the criminal justice system by examining the treatment of offenders. During the Victorian period the system became more punitive and then reformed to be more welfarist. This work offers insight into the contemporary Anglo-American penal system. In addition, Wiener's wide-ranging discussion of issues, most notably of free will versus determinism, sheds light on a broad range of Victorian history, beyond crime and punishment.
Book Description
n the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the ideas and practices of justice in Europe underwent significant change as procedures were transformed and criminal and civil caseloads grew apace. Drawing on the rich judicial records of Marseille from the years 1264 to 1423, especially records of civil litigation, this book approaches the courts of law from the perspective of the users of the courts (the consumers of justice) and explains why men and women chose to invest resources in the law.
Smail shows that the courts were quickly adopted as a public stage on which litigants could take revenge on their enemies. Even as the new legal system served the interest of royal or communal authority, it also provided the consumers of justice with a way to broadcast their hatreds and social sanctions to a wider audience and negotiate their own community standing in the process. The emotions that had driven bloodfeuds and other forms of customary vengeance thus never went away, and instead were fully incorporated into the new procedures.
Book Description
In this book J. M. Balkin offers a strikingly original theory of cultural evolution, a theory that explains shared understandings, disagreement, and diversity within cultures. Drawing on many fields of study - including anthropology, evolutionary theory, cognitive science, linguistics, sociology, political theory, philosophy, social psychology, and law - the author explores how cultures grow and spread, how shared understandings arise, and how people of different cultures can understand and evaluate each other's views. Cultural evolution occurs through the transmission of cultural information and know-how-"cultural software"-in human minds, Balkin says. Individuals embody cultural software and spread it to others through communication and social learning. Ideology, the author contends, is neither a special nor a pathological form of thought but an ordinary product of the evolution of cultural software. Because cultural understanding is a patchwork of older imperfect tools that are continually adapted to solve new problems, human understanding is partly adequate and party inadequate to the pursuit of justice. Balkin presents numerous examples that illuminate the sources of ideological effects and their contributions to injustice. He also enters the current debate over multiculturalism, applying his theory to problems of mutual understanding between people who hold different worldviews. He argues that cultural understanding presupposes transcendent ideals and shows how both ideological analysis of others and ideological self-criticism are possible.
Customer Reviews:
application of technological terms to the body, mind and human relationships, or, we become the tool.......2005-10-21
The eastern churches, for example, banned musical instruments because they were believed to diminish the spirit. No one in the eastern church ever refers to him or her self as "an instrument of god."
When one picks up a tool, one both limits oneself while extending one's abilities.
People talk about interfacing with each other now. An interface is something between two computers.
As you have probably surmised, my argument is only with Belkin's terminology. I believe it dooms his book.
I could never call anything brilliant that suggests 'human software.' The conceit dissappoints.
I gave a star only because the amazon commenting program requires a star rating. It is intended to mean nothing. I am critiquing only the terminology here.
A wise and erudite analysis of cultural understanding.......1999-03-09
This is a wonderfully wise, erudite, and well-written book. Don't let the title fool you. The book is not about forms of software designed to promote culture. The book is about cultural understanding, and culture software is an apt metaphor, helping Balkin to explain his position. As Balkin demonstrates in a wide variety of contexts, our tools of cultural understanding are a double-edged sword leading us to progress on the one hand and substantial injustice on the other. The book features an enormously valuable guide to and critique of the literature on ideology, a persuasive account of the pragmatic necessity of making transcendent claims about truth and justice, and extremely rich discussions of the ways we think about the world, including, e.g., narration, metaphor, and paired oppositions. Particularly impressive is Balkin's ability to crisply, accessibly, and fairly treat a wide variety of important thinkers from many different disciples. This book should appeal to all who try to think broadly whether their primary intellectual allegiance is to Anthropology, History, Law, Philosophy (analytic or continental), Political Science, Psychology, or Sociology.
Steven Shiffrin, Cornell University
A profound and sophisticated theory.......1998-10-22
I highly recommend this book, especially for scholars in law, philosophy, and political theory. It is one of the most insightful and wide-ranging books I have read. Balkin develops a profound and sophisticated theory of cultural understanding - the ways in which individuals think, form their beliefs, values, and identities, and evaluate each other's ideas. Balkin explains cultural understanding by using the very appropriate metaphor of "cultural software." With this metaphor, he crafts a theory of cultural understanding that accounts for the effects of historical change on shared belief systems as well as variation and disagreement among individuals in the same culture. Balkin's topic is one that is both incredibly complex yet essential to many fields: conceptions of cultural understanding underpin much of the scholarly discourse in philosophy, sociology, political theory, and law. Although his project is quite ambitious, he engages it with remarkable clarity, depth, and sophistication. The book is unusual in that it masterfully synthesizes numerous diverse fields, including philosophy, law, psychology, biology, and sociology. Balkin is at home in each of these fields, displaying command over the thought of such diverse thinkers such as Plato, Geertz, Foucault, Levi-Strauss, Gadamer, Goffman, and Mannheim.
Balkin is a fantastic writer, able to explain his concepts very clearly without resorting to excessive jargon and without sacrificing complexity or nuance. The richness of his thought is manifested when he applies his theories to concrete issues in law and politics, such as his powerful analysis of racism toward the end of the book. The book is also worth reading for Balkin's absolutely superb discussion of narratives, one of the most illuminating I have read. In sum, this book is definitely worth reading; Balkin has set forth a serious and convincing theory to be reckoned with.
Book Description
Informative and entertaining, Reel Justice rates trial scenes in films on a one-to-four-gavel scale, with four being a classic and one being "ask for a new trial." Authors Paul Bergman and Michael Asimow, both accomplished law professionals, discuss the cultural messages encoded in the films, point out what went right and wrong in scenes where liberties were taken, and even answer a few legal questions along the way.
Completely revised and reformatted from the successful first edition, this new edition of Reel Justice includes more than two dozen recent movies as well as many older favorites that weren't covered in the first version. Just a few of the films reviewed:
" A Time to Kill
" Legally Blonde
" Philadelphia
" Inherit the Wind
" A Few Good Men
" The Devil's Advocate
" I Am Sam
" Intolerable Cruelty
" Rules of Engagement
" Twelve Angry Men
" Ghosts of Mississippi
" Runaway Jury
Reel Justice is an indispensable video guide for film viewers who want the legal lowdown on courtroom scenes.
Customer Reviews:
Better than a LSAT...a great review of legal principles.......2006-12-20
Please take note: The book has been updated in 2006 so the new edition includes significantly more movie analysis than the earlier copies. After giving a quick synopsis of "courtroom movies" of all kinds...including comedy...these two law professors discuss the legal issues raised by the films. For example: Did the lawyers use a correct basis for an appeal, what are the standards for expert witnesses, was the cross-examination proper, did the judge make legal error in failing to grant a motion to disqualify the jurors, did a lawyer make unethical statements in his closing argument, etc. Simply a terrific review of legal procedure for those who love the movies.
the best reference book updated.......2006-06-07
Narayan of Rebeccasreads highly recommends REEL JUSTICE as a great companion for the courtroom movie buff.
"Every third Hollywood movie is bound to be a courtroom drama/ legal thriller." Not 100% true -- every third movie every produced is bound to be one. The fascination with law, lawyers & courtrooms is not restricted to Hollywood -- it also holds true for Bollywood (Hindi movies) & Mollywood -- the Malayalam movie industry over here in Kerala, India -- where I'm from.
But how real are the concepts of law, courtroom & lawyers presented in movies? Through a finely selected collection of movies -- law professors & exponents in law & popular culture -- authors Paul Bergman & Michael Asimow explain where fact ends & fiction begins in some of the all-time classic movies from around the world.
Though I've seen many of the courtroom classics discussed in REEL JUSTICE, I'm off to pick up CDs of those I'd never heard of.
the new edition is great.......2006-05-31
I've read the new and older edition. Both are great, though the newer edition is even more fun and informative. There's a new feature, 'Picturing Justice' that provides an analysis of how cinema art -- the direction, imagery and screenwriting -- can add an extra dimension to judicial themes. This is a welcom edition for any cinema or legal library. And it's pretty witty, as well.
A popular film guide with real substance........2001-08-24
As a lawyer, I did not expect that a book on movie trials, aimed at a popular audience, would have much substance. But I was very pleasantly suprised. The authors, two law professors, do an excellent job of pointing out the numerous errors Hollywood makes when it tries to depict a trial. (Most non-lawyers would be surprised, for example, to learn that *My Cousin Vinny* is much more realistic than *The Verdict.*) The authors' discussions go into real (but not tedious) depth about not only the errors in the way judges, lawyers, etc., behave on film, but also the mistakes scriptwriters make in creating tactics and legal theories for their characters. In addition, the authors helpfully explain what would (most likely) *really* happen in many filmed situations. Because the authors treat each movie at length, this is not an exhaustive filmography. However, all the biggies are here, and the book also contains usefully organized indexes. This would be a great selection for lawyers, film buffs, or anyone who has to serve on a jury.
If you love legal dramas you must read this book........1999-06-04
Courtrooms are the scenes of many of our greatest dramas, both on film and in real life. So it's no surprise that a book reviewing the legal and dramatic merits of dozens of law-related movies is a great read.
You learn a lot about the law through the authors' explanations of what famous trial scenes in the movies were based in actual law or not. And you get lots of insights into the making of many excellent movies.
Not only did I enjoy this book enormously, I've also used it as a guide for what movies to rent.
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