Law in America: A Short History » (Reprint)

Lawrence M. Friedman is Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law at Stanford University. He is the author of more than twenty-three books, including American Law in the Twentieth Century, A History of American Law, and Crime and Punishment in American History. Professor Friedman is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the recipient of numerous awards.

Throughout America’s history, our laws have been a reflection of who we are, of what we value, of who has control. They embody our society’s genetic code. In the masterful hands of the subject’s greatest living historian, the story of the evolution of our laws serves to lay bare the deciding struggles over power and justice that have shaped this country from its birth pangs to the present. Law in America is a supreme example of the historian’s art, its brevity a testament to the great elegance and wit of its composition.