A guide to the American legal system, told through the story of two actual court casesThe Steps to the Supreme Court takes a lively, narrative approach to the subject by following two real cases--one civil, one criminal--as they work their way through the system all the way up to the Supreme Court. Written by a member of the Supreme Court bar, this book brings the legal system to life in a practical, accessible, and compelling way.Covers the ...

A comprehensive history of the people and cases that have changed history, this is the definitive account of the nation's highest court featuring a forward by Howard ZinnRecent changes in the Supreme Court have placed the venerable institution at the forefront of current affairs, making this comprehensive and engaging work as timely as ever. In the tradition of Howard Zinn's classic A People's History of the United States, Peter Irons chronicles the decisi...

An insightful and dramatic account of religious conflicts that keep America divided, from the acclaimed author of A People's History of the Supreme CourtAs the United States has become increasingly conservative, both politically and socially, in recent years, the fight between the religious right and those advocating for the separation of church and state has only intensified. As he did in A People's History of the Supreme Court, award-winning aut...

A searing--and sobering--account of the legal and extra-legal means by which systemic white racism has kept Black Americans 'in their place' from slavery to police and vigilante killings of Black men and women, from 1619 to the present. From the arrival of the first English settlers in America until now-a span of four centuries-a minority of white men have created, managed, and perpetuated their control of every major institution, public and private, in American society. ...

Peter Irons, acclaimed historian and author of A People History of the Supreme Court, explores of one of the supreme court's most important decisions and its disappointing aftermathIn 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court sounded the death knell for school segregation with its decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. So goes the conventional wisdom. Weaving together vivid portraits of lawyers and such judges as Thurgood Marshall and Earl Warren, sketches o...

A comprehensive history of the people and cases that have changed history, this is the definitive account of the nation's highest courtRecent changes in the Supreme Court have placed the venerable institution at the forefront of current affairs, making this comprehensive and engaging work as timely as ever. In the tradition of Howard Zinn's classic A People's History of the United States, Peter Irons chronicles the decisions that have influenced virtually ...

A searing—and sobering—account of the legal and extra-legal means by which systemic white racism has kept Black Americans ‘in their place’ from slavery to police and vigilante killings of Black men and women, from 1619 to the present.From the arrival of the first English settlers in America until now—a span of four centuries—a minority of white men have created, managed, and perpetuated their control of every major institution, public and private, in American socie...

A reporter and **abortion access correspondent investigates the secret killers and hidden motives behind the death of abortion rights. "**Haunting, riveting and built around some of the most complex characters you’ll ever meet..." (Rebecca Traister)They are going to kill people, investigative reporter for The Nation Amy Littlefield knew, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. After a decade coveri...

An Economist best book of the yearA Foreign Affairs best book of the yearA Foreign Policy most anticipated book of the yearFrom a renowned Yale historian comes a chilling look at the looming threat of the next Great Power war and the urgent interventions necessary to avoid it in the twenty-first century.The vast majority of people al...

For readers of Annette Gordon-Reed and Nikole Hannah-Jones, the shocking untold story of the British royal family’s centuries-long investment in slavery and continued profiting off its legacy—from Elizabeth I to the present—and the monarchy’s culpability in the racial injustice that gave birth to the United States.For centuries, Britain has told itself and the world that it is an abolitionist nation, one that, unlike the United States, rejected human bondage and di...

From Sarah Weinman, author of Scoundrel and The Real Lolita, comes an eye-opening story about the first major spousal rape trial in America and urgent questions it raised about women’s rights that would reverberate for decades.In 1978, Greta Rideout was the first woman in United States history to accuse her husband of rape, at a time when the idea of “marital rape” seemed ludicrous to many Americans and was a crime in only four states. After a qui...

**A former public defender takes us behind the closed doors of America's criminal courts, revealing how the institutions that claim to protect us are doing the exact opposite—and offering a blueprint for finally fixing it.“A searing, compassionate, and utterly necessary book that pulls back the curtain with the clarity of a lawyer and the heart of someone who’s seen the criminal legal system’s devastating consequences up close.”—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow