Books » Perspective on Law Books

From the critically acclaimed author of Crazy '08 comes the thrilling true story of the most colorful and notorious law firm in American history. Scoundrels in Law offers an inside look at crime and punishment in the nineteenth century, and a whirlwind tour of the Gilded Age.

Gangsters and con men. Spurned mistresses and wandering husbands. Strippers and Broadway royalty. Cat killers and spiritualists. These were the friends and clients of Howe & Hummel, the most famous (and famously rotten) law firm in nineteenth-century America.

The partners gloried in their reputation and made a rich living from it. William Howe left London a step ahead of the law to find his destiny defending the perpetrators of murder and mayhem in post-Civil War New York, in an age of really good murders. A dramatic, diamond-encrusted presence, Howe was one of the great courtroom orators of his era, winning improbable acquittals time after time.

Abraham Hummel enjoyed a quieter but perhaps more fearsome notoriety, shaking down high society so well and so often that receiving an envelope with the law firm's name on it became almost a rite of passage.

The partners bestrode Gilded Age New York with wit and brio, and everyone from Theodore Roosevelt to Lola Montez had a part in their story. In Howe & Hummel's prime, it would not have been unusual to see a leading politician, a pickpocket, a Broadway star, a bank robber, and a socialite all crowded together into the waiting room of their offices, located conveniently across the street from the city jail.

Howe and Hummel were not particularly good men. They were perfectly ready-even eager-to lie, cheat, and bribe on behalf of their clients. They did stop short of murder, though, a principle that played a critical role when the famous firm imploded in a truly spectacular web of deceit gone wrong.

Through the windows of the dingy premises of Howe & Hummel, readers can glimpse the Gilded Age in all its grime and grandeur. Cait Murphy restores this once-famous duo to their rightful place in the pantheon of great American characters.

The story of the Lakota Sioux's loss of their spiritual homelands and their remarkable legal battle to regain it

The Lakota Indians counted among their number some of the most famous Native Americans, including Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Their homeland was in the magnificent Black Hills in South Dakota, where they found plentiful game and held religious ceremonies at charged locations like Devil's Tower. Bullied by settlers and the U. S. Army, they refused to relinquish the land without a fight, most famously bringing down Custer at Little Bighorn. In 1873, though, on the brink of starvation, the Lakotas surrendered the Hills.

But the story does not end there. Over the next hundred years, the Lakotas waged a remarkable campaign to recover the Black Hills, this time using the weapons of the law. In The Lakotas and the Black Hills, the latest addition to the Penguin Library of American Indian History, Jeffrey Ostler moves with ease from battlefields to reservations to the Supreme Court, capturing the enduring spiritual strength that bore the Lakotas through the worst times and kept alive the dream of reclaiming their cherished homeland.

"Concepts in context." It's an approach unique among business law textbooks and one of the main reasons Beatty and Samuelson's BUSINESS LAW AND THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT is so successful in the classroom. From the very first chapter, the authors' superb writing fascinates, drawing students into the concepts of business law within the context of vivid examples and memorable scenarios. Throughout, provocative questions encourage students to reflect about what they are reading-teaching by example using activities that foster active learning and show students how to think through issues from a lawyer's perspective. No other text is as effective at helping students learn how to apply concepts and contexts to their practice, and in teaching them why business law matters not only to their careers but also to their daily lives.

An in-depth look at the defining document of America

Want to make sense of the U.S. Constitution? This plain-English guide walks you through this revered document, explaining how the articles and amendments came to be and how they have guided legislators, judges, and presidents and sparked ongoing debates. You'll understand all the big issues - from separation of church and state to impeachment to civil rights - that continue to affect Americans' daily lives.

• Get started with Constitution basics - explore the main concepts and their origins, the different approaches to interpretation, and how the document has changed over the past 200+ years

• Know who has the power - see how the public, the President, Congress, and the Supreme Court share in the ruling of America

• Balance the branches of government - discover what it means to be Commander in Chief, the functions of the House and Senate, and how Supreme Court justices are appointed

• Break down the Bill of Rights - from freedom of religion to the prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishments," understand what the first ten amendments mean

• Make sense of the modifications - see how amendments have reformed presidential elections, abolished slavery, given voting rights to women, and more

Open the book and find:

• The text of the Constitution and its ammendments

• Discussion of controversial issues including the death penalty, abortion, and gay marriage

• Why the word "democracy" doesn't appear in the Constitution

• What the Electoral College is and how it elects a President

• Details on recent Supreme Court decisions

• The Founding Fathers' intentions for balancing power in Washington

For courses in Criminal Justice, Computer Crime, Cyber Crime, and Computer Forensics. Written for first responders, this text was developed to address the need for an investigator's guide to high tech crime. Filled with real world examples, it is meant to be a hands-on training tool as well as a long-term reference manual. Chapters and materials are sequenced using a building block approach--one that ensures all students have the baseline knowledge needed to advance to the more complex topic areas. With an emphasis on demystifying the world of high tech crime, this book uses plain terms and real world analogies to make concepts accessible and meaningful to those on the front lines.

Newly revised, this leading book in the field shows how to prepare for a jury trial and reviews the thought processes of a lawyer before and during each aspect of a trial. Structured to follow the stages of a trial, <b>Trial Techniques</b> continues to deliver practical advice and abundant examples of the courtroom skills needed to present evidence and arguments persuasively. This comprehensive yet concise handbook covers all aspects of the trial process, providing the perfect source for your elective course. <p class="copymedium"><b>This long-time leading course book is an invaluable source for prospective trial lawyers, presenting:</b></p><ul><li class="copymedium"> a <b>best-selling author</b> renowned for his skills both as a writer and litigator </li><li class="copymedium"> a <b>clear, engaging writing style</b> that breaks the trial process down into its critical components for more thorough and<b> efficient comprehension</b></li><li class="copymedium"><b>excellent examples</b> illustrating strategies for opening statements, jury selection, <b>direct- and cross-examination, exhibits, objections</b>, and more </li><li class="copymedium"> an appendix containing the <b>Federal Rules of Evidence</b> for easy reference </li></ul><p> An author website to support classroom instruction using this title is available at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.aspenlawschool.com/mauet_trialtechniques7"> http://www.aspenlawschool.com/mauet_trialtechniques7</a></p>

This book examines corrections from an academic view and from those who are at the center of the system. It includes correctional history and theory, yet concentrates on what professionals do, why they do it, and the challenges they face every day. Unique integration of the author's experience sets the tone for this real-world approach and chapter case studies, career features, and personal interviews reinforce the theme. Now available with an accompanying DVD, the book shows readers how corrections theory and research are put into practice and helps them experience the world of corrections from the inside. Fully updated to include more information on: Juvenile corrections; Civil commitments for dangerous sexual predators; Prison rape elimination; Updates to court decisions regarding corrections. Offer personal accounts from correctional administrators, correctional officers, and inmates and reinforces the realistic, practical approach of the book.  Highlights real-life situations faced by clients and corrections professionals every day.  Gives readers an authoritative, first-hand look at the real world of corrections. Builds on the author's experience as a warden, administrator, director and trainer.  For individuals and taxpayers interested in today's criminal justice system, and an understanding of how programs operate and how much they cost.

This book is about policing at its most important and challenging levels-in neighborhoods and in communities across the nation and abroad. Unique in perspective, its focus is on community policing and problem solving-and the processes that are being implemented under COPPS to control and prevent crime, disorder and fear. Extremely applied, this book focuses on daily processes and tactics and how and why agencies are revolutionizing their traditional philosophy and operations. This fifth edition provides updated information on crime in the United States, more emphasis on terrorism and homeland defense, and a new chapter on information technology. Authoritative and practical perspectivecombines the classroom expertise of a seasoned criminal justice educator with the practical experience of an executive-level police administrator. Community-oriented policing and problem solving (COPPS) focus provides a comprehensive view of how agencies are changing their management style, organizational structures, and operational strategies to attack crime, disorder and fear. Includes topics such as computer-aided dispatch, mobile computing, records management, geomapping, CompStat, global positioning systems, use of the Internet, and surveys. Police practictioners with a fundamental knowledge of police history or operations or those working in a government agency outside policing and are interested in learning about community policing and problem solving.

"When we captured Kigali, we thought we would face criminals in the state; instead, we faced a criminal population." So a political commissar in the Rwanda Patriotic Front reflected after the 1994 massacre of as many as one million Tutsis in Rwanda. Underlying his statement is the realization that, though ordered by a minority of state functionaries, the slaughter was performed by hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens, including even judges, human rights activists, and doctors, nurses, priests, friends, and spouses of the victims. Indeed, it is its very popularity that makes the Rwandan genocide so unthinkable. This book makes it thinkable.

Rejecting easy explanations of the genocide as a mysterious evil force that was bizarrely unleashed, one of Africa's best-known intellectuals situates the tragedy in its proper context. He coaxes to the surface the historical, geographical, and political forces that made it possible for so many Hutu to turn so brutally on their neighbors. He finds answers in the nature of political identities generated during colonialism, in the failures of the nationalist revolution to transcend these identities, and in regional demographic and political currents that reach well beyond Rwanda. In so doing, Mahmood Mamdani usefully broadens understandings of citizenship and political identity in postcolonial Africa.

There have been few attempts to explain the Rwandan horror, and none has succeeded so well as this one. Mamdani's analysis provides a solid foundation for future studies of the massacre. Even more important, his answers point a way out of crisis: a direction for reforming political identity in central Africa and preventing future tragedies.