HOME TOWN

Robert J. Sampson, Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect (Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 2012) (From the bookjacket: "For over fifty years numerous public intellectuals and social theorists have insisted that community is dead. Some would have us believe that we act solely as individuals choosing our own fates regardless of our surroundings, while other theories place us at the mercy of global forces beyond our control. Based on one of the most ambitious studies in the history of social science, Great American City argues that communities still matter because life is decisively shaped by where you live." "To demonstrate the powerfully enduring impact of place, Robert J. Sampson presents here the fruits of over a decade 's research in Chicago combined with his own unique personal observations about life in the city, from Cabrini Green to Trump Tower and Millennium Park to the Robbert Taylor Homes. He discovers that neighborhoods influence a remarkably wide variety of social phenomena, including crime, health civic engagement, home foreclosures, teen births, altruism, leadership networks, and immigration." "Following in the influential tradition of the Chicago School or urban studies but updated for the twenty-first century, Great American City is at once a landmark research project, a commanding argument for a new theory of social life, and the story of an iconic city." Unfortunately, recent studies have identified Chicago as (1) the most segregated city in the United States and (2) the most corrupt city in the United States. Neighborhoods endure!).

MORAL KILLING?

Jeff McMahan, The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life (Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 2002) (From the bookjacket: "This groundbreaking book is a comprehensive study of the ethics of killing in cases in which the metaphysical or moral status of the individual killed is uncertain or controversial. Among the beings whose status is questionable or marginal in this way are human embryos and fetuses, neonates, animals, anencephalic infants, human beings with severe, congenital, cognitive impairments, and human beings who have become severely demented or irreversibly comatose." " In an attempt to understand the moral status of these beings, Jeff McMahan develops and defends distinctive accounts of the nature of personal identity, the evaluation of death, and the wrongness of killing. He contends that the morality of killing is not unitary; rather, the principles that determine the morality of killing in marginal cases are different from those those that govern the killing of persons who are self-conscious and rational." "Among the central claims of this book is that killing in marginal cases should be evaluated primarily in terms of the impact it would have on the victim at the time rather than on the value of the victim's life as a whole. What primarily matters, in other words, is how killing affects that which it would be rational for the victim to care about at the time of death." "McMahon systematically employs various foundational claims about identity, death, and killing to yield novel conclusions about such issues as abortion, prenatal injury, infanticide, the killing of animals, the significance of brain death, the termination of life support in cases of persistent vegetative state, the use of anencephalic infants as sources of transplant organs, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and advance directive in cases of dementia.").

Jeff McMahan, Killing in War (Oxford & New York: Clarendon Press/Oxford University Press, 2009) (From the "Preface": "The contention of this book is that common sense beliefs about the morality of killing in war are deeply mistaken. The prevailing view is that in a state of war, the practice of killing is governed by different moral principles form those that govern acts of killing in other contexts, This presupposes that it can make a difference to the moral permissibility of killing another person whether one's political leaders have declared a state of war with that person's country. According to the prevailing view, therefore, political leaders can somehow cause other people's moral rights to disappear simply by commanding their armies to attack them. When stated in this way the received view seems obviously absurd. In explaining and elaborating this view in detail . . . , I will present it in the way its proponents do, which will of course make it seem far more sensible. But it should still be evident, even when one has read the official description that the account I have just given is accurate." "My aim in this book is to challenge the received wisdom about the morality of killing in war. Although a book in philosophy cannot be expected to have any significant effect on popular thought, I have nevertheless written this book in the hop e of promoting a reconsideration of certain beliefs that have hardened into unquestioned orthodoxies yet encourage complacency about killing in war and thus make it easier for governments to lead their countries into unjust wars. Among these beliefs is the view that moral responsibility for wrongful killing that occurs when an unjust war is fought lies solely with the political leaders whose decision it was to go tot war, Political leaders are utterly powerless to killing large numbers of people without the acquiescence of complicity of all those who rationalized, pay for and perpetrate killings." Id. at vii-viii. Also, find and listen to Buffy St. Marie singing "Universal Soldier.).

Symposium on Jeff McMahan's Killing in War, 122 Ethics: An International Journal of Social, Political and Legal Philosophy 8 (October, 2011).

SUGGESTED SUMMER (2012) READINGS FOR LAW STUDENTS; OR, A THIRTEEN CASEBOOKS OR (STUDENT) TREATISES I WOULD WORK MY WAY THROUGH WERE I A LAW STUDENT

I know that so-called "experiential learning" is the current rage. Yet, experiential learning may not be the best way to learn some things, and is certainly not the only way to learn. Consider this: If you could learn the lesson of the horrible and painful consequences of placing your hand into the flame on your kitchen stove burner by having your mother or father explain what will happen, then would you really rather learn that lesson by actually placing your hand into the flame and experiencing those horrible and painful consequences? Yes, we learn by our mistakes--our maybe we don't--; but we can learn a lot without making the mistakes. Others have been there before. We can learn from their mistakes. Reading is a primary means of learning from other people's mistakes. We (including you) are not the first to travel the many paths of law. We can learn from what others have learned on these well-trodden paths. That said, these suggested readings are not for the faint of heart.

Dawn D. Bennett-Alexander & Linda F. Harrison, The Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Environment of Business in a Diverse Society (New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2012) ("What this text strives to do as you study it is to open your eyes to ethical and diversity issues so, where applicable, they become a relevant part of your business decision-making process, just as legal considerations are. Our aim is to teach you the legal, regulatory, and ethical implications of business decisions in the context of diversity, as business cannot be divorced from the reality of the world we live. We of course do not tell you how you must think about such issues on a personal level, as you are able to hold whatever opinions you wish. Rather, we make you aware of how your business decisions may be impacted by issues you might not otherwise have considered. . . . We want you to consider these factors as a routine part of your business making since the reality is that they will have an impact." Id. at 21-22. Here are the chapter titles: "Introduction to the Business and Ethics Environment in a Diverse Society," "Alternative Dispute Resolution," "The Court System and Legal Process," "Administrative Law," "Contracts and Sales," "Torts," "Property, Real and Personal," "Business Crimes," "Secured Transactions and Bankruptcy," "Agency and Business Organizations," "The Employment Relationship and Equal Employment Opportunity," "Labor and Management Relations," "Securities Regulation and Compliance," "Antitrust and Trade Regulation," "Intellectual Property," "Environmental Law and Business," and "International Trade and Business." As you work through this textbook you will have that "OMG-moment," where you will say to yourself, 'I should have read this book at the beginning of law school, and certainly before deciding what courses to take in my second-year.' Now you know. It is not too late.).

Lisa Schultz Bressman, Edward L. Rubin & Kevin M. Stack, The Regulatory State (Boston & New York: Wolters Kluwer law & Business, 2010) ("This book provides an introduction to the modern regulatory state, which is the collection of federal governmental laws and institutions that determine significant aspects of social and economic policy today. The regulatory state is the dominant feature of our nation's governance system. It has not aways been this way. Prior to the modern era, federal regulatory efforts were haphazard. Social and economic policy were largely determined by the forces of supply and demand--in other words, the market. And the common law, which is developed mainly by state judges in the process of deciding cases, provided most of the important rules governing private conduct. But during the past century and a half, this regime has been largely displaced by statutes and regulations. Statutes are laws enacted by legislatures, such as Congress, and regulation are laws issued by administrative agencies, such as the Department of Transportation or the Environmental Protection Agency or the Federal Communications Commission. Statutes and regulations are paramount in this book because they are principal sources of law in the regulatory state. We examine judicial decisions as well, but they play more of a supporting role here than in many other law school books." Id. at xxi.).

David G. Epstein, Richard D. Freer, Michael J. Roberts & George B. Shepherd, Business Structures, Third Edition (American Casebook Series) (St. Paul, MN: West, 2010) (From the "Dedication": "We wrote Business Structures primarily for students who did not take any 'business courses' in college. Two of us did not take any 'business courses' in college. And then we took this course in law school, and it was our worst law school experience (until, years later, we attended our first law school faculty meeting). We wrote this book to spare you that fate." Id. at iii.).

Laura P. Hartman & Joe DesJardins, Business Ethics: Decision-Making for Personal Integrity and Social Responsibility (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008) ("This textbook provides a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the ethical issues arising in business. Students unfamiliar with ethics will find themselves as unprepared for careers in business as students who are unfamiliar with accounting and finance. It is fair to say that students will not be fully prepared, even within traditional disciplines such as accounting, finance, human resources management, marketing, and management, unless they are sufficiently knowledgeable about the ethical issues that arise specifically within those fields." "While other solid introductory textbooks are available, several major features make this book distinctive. We emphasize a decision-making approach to ethics and we provide strong pedagogical support for both teachers and students throughout the entire book. In addition, we bring both both of these strengths to students though a pragmatic discussion of issues with which they are already often familiar, thus approaching them through subjects that have already generated their interest." Id. vii. If you are going to be a business, commercial, or corporate lawyers, shouldn't you know the potential ethical issues facing your clients?).

Howell E. Jackson, Louis Kaplow, Steven M. Shavell, W. Kip Viscusi & David Cope, Analytical Methods for Lawyers, Second Edition (New York: Thomson Reuters/Foundation Press, 2011). (Decision Analysis, Game and Information, Contracting, Accounting, Finance, Microeconomics, Economic Analysis of Law, Fundamentals of Statistical Analysis, and Multivariate Statistics).

Mark Weston Janis, International Law, Sixth Edition (Aspen Student Treatise Series) (New York: Wolters Kluver Law & Business, 2012) ("This book endeavors to introduce the discipline of international law in such a way as to clarify and order a dauntingly complex and variegated subject. . . . I introduce international law not only in its traditional public or interstate sense, but also in its increasingly important private and commercial aspects." Id. at xv. "Three questions more or less structure the text: What are international legal rules? What is international legal process? What role does international law play in international relations? . . . The book is meant to reflect international law generally and should prove useful read either on its own or as a supplement to any of the standard American legal or political casebooks on the subject." Id. at xvi. "It is a sorry state of affairs to have to count the United States as one of the countries most often in non-compliance with ICJ [International Court of Justice] decisions." Id. at 150-151.).

Emma Coleman Jordan & Angela P. Harris, Economic Justice: Race, Gender, Identity and Economics: Cases and Materials, Second Edition (New York/Foundation Press, 2005, 2011) ("We live in a society organized according to two master principles: capitalism and democracy. Although principles and their associated values, institutions, and norms are integral to American life, they often seem to exist in different worlds. Capitalism is often thought of as belonging to the 'private' sphere, whereas democracy belongs in the 'public' sphere. Capitalism is the business of business organizations and of economic analysis; democracy is the business of politicians and voters and of political analysis. Within the academy, a similar split seems to have created two cultures, like the ''two cultures' of science and the humanities of which C.P. Snow originally spoke. Economic analysis has developed a culture of scientific expertise in which developing testable hypotheses with mathematical rigor, constructing quantitative analysis, and making predictions are principal values. Although social scientists increasingly analyze democratic institutions in this way as well, discussions of democracy have more traditionally been the bailiwick of moral philosophers, and more recently critical theorists, who use the language of morality, justice, and the methodological tools associated with the humanities to pursue the 'ought' rather than the 'is.'" "The split obtains in legal scholarship as well. In the last few decades, the law and economics movement has had a tremendous impact on legal studies. Like its parent discipline economics, law and economics focuses on questions of transactional efficiency and tends to ignore questions of distribution or justice; it seeks to accurately describe how legal rules work (or don't work), and to the extent it is normative rather than descriptive, the assumed goal is greater efficiency. Traditional legal scholarship, however, has taken the pursuit of distributional justice, fairness, and democratic process as central to its analyses. In the last few decades critical legal scholarship has developed an even more openly moral discourse of justice, focused on the pursuit of equality. Traditional and critical scholars, however, have seldom ventured into the territory of efficiency or the systemic analysis of transactions, just as law and economics scholars have seldom ventured into the territory of fairness and equality. . . ." "The phrase 'economic justice' signals our aim: rather than maintaining the tacit assumption that 'justice' has nothing to do with economics and economics nothing to do with social justice, we hope to engage the two cultures with one another. What can economics tell us about democracy and the law? What can theories of justice tell us about economic theory and law? Why is there no legal language of 'class' in the United States, and what might one look like? Rather than asking students to specialize in one or the other discourse, as current legal pedagogy implicitly does, this casebook openly engages students in the project of learning from both discourses, and using each as a means to gain insights on the other. . . . " "In this casebook, we use the problem of racial and gender injustice as a vehicle for engaging both critical theory and economic theory. Just as race, gender, and class seem inextricably intertwined, economic and critical analysis both seem crucial to unraveling the knot of racial and gender inequality. Moreover, economic analysis and critical analysis may need to influence and be influenced by one another in order for a truly incisive and transformative dialogue about race and gender to emerge in the legal academy and in American society more generally." Id. at v-vi.).

Avery Wiener Katz, Foundations of The Economic Approach to Law (New Providence, NJ, & San Francisco, CA: LexisNexis, 2006).

John Monahan & Laurens Walker, Social Science in Law: Cases and Materials, Seventh Edition (New York: Thompson Reuters/Foundation Press, 2010) ("The purpose of the book should be clear at the outset: to apprise the reader of the actual and potential uses of social sciences in the American legal process and how those uses might be evaluated. We here view social science as an analytical tool in the law, familiarity with which will heighten the lawyer's professional effectiveness and sharpen the legal scholar's insights. The principal alternative to this 'inside' perspective on the relationship of social science to law is the 'law and society' or 'sociology of law' approach which seeks to understand the functioning of 'law' as a social system. [] In choosing an orientation from within the legal system rather than that of the law and society observer, we mean no disparagement of the latter. . . . " Id. at v.).

Roberta Romano, Foundations of Corporate Law, Second (New Providence, NJ, & San Francisco, CA: LexisNexis, 2006).

Maxwell L. Stearns, Todd J. Zywicki, Public Choice Concepts and Applications in Law (American Casebook Series) (St. Paul, MN: West, 2009).

Charles J. Tabb & Ralph Brubaker, Bankruptcy Law: Principles, Policies, and Practice, Third Edition (New Providence, NJ, & San Francisco, CA: LexisNexis,, 2010).

Robert E. Stout & George G. Triantis, Foundations of Commercial Law (New Providence, NJ, & San Francisco, CA: LexisNexis, 2006).

What one wants to accomplish in the first and second years of law school is the acquisition of foundational knowledge; that is, knowledge and skills which will serve you well no matter what areas of law one ultimately pursues or, for that matter, even should one decide not to pursue a law career.

Also, since some of you may be entering the full-time work force for the first time, or are contemplating a career change (into law), you might find working through the following book useful.

Richard N. Bolles, What Color Is Your Parachute?: A Practical Manual For Job-Hunters and Career-Changers 2012 (40th Anniversary Edition) (Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 2012).

PHILANTHROPIC AMERICA

Olivier Zunz, Philanthropy in America: A History (Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2012) (From the bookjacket: "American philanthropy today expands knowledge, champions social movements, defines active citizenship, influences policymaking, and addresses humanitarian crises. How did philanthropy become such a powerful and integral force in American society? Philanthropy in America is the first book to explore in depth the twentieth-century growth of this unique phenomenon. Ranging form the influential large-scale foundations established by tycoons such as John D. Rockefeller, St., and the mass mobilization of small donors by the Red Cross and March of Dimes, to the recent advocacy of individuals like Bill Gates and George Soros, . . . Olivier Zunz chronicles the tight connections between private giving and public affairs, and shows how this union has enlarged democracy and shaped history." "Zunz looks at the ways in which American philanthropy emerged not as charity work, but as an open and sometimes controversial means to foster independent investigation, problem solving, and the greater good. Andrew Carnegie supported science research and higher education, catapulting these fields to a prominent position on the world stage. In the 1950s, Howard Pew deliberately funded the young Billy Graham to counter liberal philanthropies, prefiguring the culture wars and increased philanthropic support for religious causes. And in the 1960s, the Ford Foundation supported civil rights through education, voter registration drives, and community action programs. Zunz argues that American giving allowed the country to export its ideals abroad after World War II and he examines the federal tax policies that unified the diverse nonprofit sector." "Demonstrating that America has cultivated and relied on philanthropy more than any other country, Philanthropy in America examines how giving for the betterment of all became embedded in the fabric of the nation's civic democracy.").

REGULATING POLITICAL BROADCASTING

Heather Hendershot, What's Fair on the Air?: Cold War Right-Wing Broadcasting and the Public Interest (Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 2011) ("Many of the extremist groups did not include broadcasting in their activities, but the ones that did were those with the greatest longevity, and the largest operating budgets. What's Fair on the Air? charts the rise and fall of four of the era's most prominent extremist broadcasters: H. L. Hunt, Dan Smoot, Carl McIntire, and Billy James Hargis. All thrived on radio, with McIntire finding the largest audience of all the extremists, and Smoot being the only one also to find a significant home on television. These four maintained their organizations and programs longer than most. . . It's impossible to clearly trace the circulation of all the record albums, pamphlets, books, 16mm films, and reel-to-reel tapes produced by ultraconservatives throughout the 1960s, as the distribution of such media was so completely decentralized. But there is a clear link between the amount of media produced, the amount of money that came in, and the longevity of each group. One might conjecture that Hunt, Smoot, McIntire, and Hargis were the most powerful of the right-wing broadcasters, but having a considerable cash flow did not necessarily translate directly into political power. These four were, at least, the most heard of the many competing cold war ultraconservatives. According to the Communications Act of 1934, broadcasters were required 'to serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity.' . . ." Id. at 11-12. "What's Fair on the Air? presents an analysis not only of the cold war extremists rejected by what would become the mainstream conservative movement but also, specifically, of the FCC's battle against extremist broadcasters. . . . ." "That the public interest might have a strong political valence (beyond the obviously politically charged implications of choosing who exactly get a license) became clearer to policy maker later, particularly in the years leading up to World War II. In 1939, the national Association of Broadcasters had, Alan Brinkley notes, 'adopted new codes sharply limiting the sale of radio time to 'spokesmen of controversial public issues'.' " Id.at at 16.).

INCENTIVES AS EXERCISE OF POWER

Ruth W. Grant, Stings Attached: Untangling the Ethics of Incentives (New York: Russell Sage Foundation; Princeton & Oxford: Princeton U. Press, 2012) (From the bookjacket: "Incentives can be found everywhere--in schools, businesses, factories, and government--influencing people's choices about almost everything, from financial decisions and tobacco use to exercise and child rearing. So long as people have a choice, incentives seem innocuous. But Strings Attached demonstrates that when incentives are viewed as a kind of power rather than as a form of exchange, many ethical questions arise: How do incentives affect character and institutional culture? Can incentives be manipulative or exploitative, even if people are free to refuse them? What are the responsibilities of the powerful in using incentives? Ruth Grant shows that, like all other forms of power, incentives can be subject to abuse, and she identifies their legitimate and illegitimate uses." "Grant offers a history of the growth of incentives in early twentieth-century America, identifies standards for judging incentives, and examines incentives in four areas--pleas bargaining, recruiting medical research subjects, International Monetary Fund loan conditions, and motivating students. In every case, the analysis of incentives in terms of power yields strikingly different and more complex judgments than an analysis that views incentives as trades, in which the desired behavior is freely exchanged for the incentives offered.").

THIS IS ACTUALLY A SUGGESTION THAT YOU NOT READ THIS BOOK: NUTTY LOGIC AND BOGUS CONSPIRACY THEORY

Ellen Hodgson Brown, J.D., The Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System and How We Can Break Free (Fifth Edition, Revised and Updated) (Baton Rouge, LA: Third Millennium Press, 2012) (If one is going to be a teacher, one has to be open to different points of view. However, for the first time in my life I have wanted to burn a book. UGH! ).

CHILDISM

Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, Childism: Confronting Prejudice Against Children (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2012) ("Let me give you an example of American society's prejudice against children . . . and ask you to think about it. The example is a fact, a shameful fact: America incarcerates more of its children than any country in the world. Half a million American children are currently in juvenile detention centers (juvies), where many of them are victims of abuse and neglect, as many of them were victims of abuse and neglect before they arrived. Some of the 'delinquents' are there because they were arrested for a crime and are awaiting trial. They will be tried in courts that are permitted to sentence children convicted of homicide to life without parole in adult prisons. Until a recent Supreme Court decision, the courts could have sentenced them to death. Others were incarcerated without arrest: they were simply found on the streets, sometimes homeless, sometimes mentally ill, and judged to be out of control and dangerous 'to themselves and others.' No one knew what else to do with them." [] "Although a movement is now afoot to do something about the escalating child-incarceration rate, it is not framed as struggle to overcome prejudice against children. Far from it. . . . " Id. at 2. From the bookjacket: "In this groundbreaking volume on the human rights of children, . . . Elisabeth Young-Bruehl argues that prejudice exists against children as a group and that it is comparable to racism, sexism, and homophobia. This prejudice--childism--legitimates and rationalizes a broad continuum of acts that are not 'in the best interests of children,' including the often violent extreme of child abuse and neglect. According to Young-Bruehl, reform is possible only if we acknowledge this prejudice in its basic forms and address the motives and cultural forces that drive it, rather than dwell on the various categories of abuse and punishment.").

GOVERNMENT WELFARE POLICIES HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

Suzanne Metter, The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Policies Undermine American Democracy (Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 2011) (“[T]he submerged state: existing policies that lay beneath the surface of U.S. market institutions and within the federal tax system.” Id. at 4. “[A] dense thicket of long-established public policies, but ones that are largely invisible to most Americans—and that are extremely resistant to change. Efforts to transform these policies, which have become entrenched fixtures of modern governance, generate a deeply conflicted politics that routinely alienates the public, hindering chances of success or sustainability of the reforms.” Id. at 4. “The ‘submerged state’ includes a conglomeration of federal policies that function by providing incentives, subsidies, or payments to private organizations or households to encourage or reimburse them for conducting activities deemed to serve a public purpose.” Id. at 4. “Since 1980 these policies have proliferated in number, and the average size of their benefits has expanded dramatically.” Id. at 4. “Most of these ascendant policies function in a way that directly contradicts Americans’ expectations of social welfare policies: they shower their largest benefits on the most affluent Americans. Id. at 4. For example, Home Mortgage Interest Deduction (HMID), “which is currently the nation’s most expensive social tax break aside from the tax-free status of employer-provided health coverage.” Id. at 4. “This pattern of upward redistribution is repeated in numerous other policies of the submerged state: federal largesse is allocated disproportionately to the nation’s most well-off households. Such policies consume a sizable portion or revenues and leave scarce resources available for programs that genuinely aid low- and middle-income Americans.” Id. at 5. “Yet despite their growing size, scope, and tendency to channel government benefits toward the wealthy, the policies of the submerged state remain largely invisible to ordinary Americans: indeed, their hallmark is the way they obscure government’s role from the view of the general public, including those who number among their beneficiaries. Even when people state directly at these policies, many perceive only a freely functioning market system at work. They understand neither what is at stake in reform efforts nor the significance of their success.“ Id. at 5. “The problem is not simply the typical policy complexity that alienates the public; rather, policies of the submerged state obscure the role of the government and exaggerate that of the market, leaving citizens unaware of how power operates, unable to form meaningful opinions, and incapable, therefore, of voicing their views accordingly.” Id. at 6.