 Book Reviews || Book Notices || Publishers || Archive ————————————————————————————— JURIST: Books-on-Law is edited by Ronald K.L. Collins and David Skover of the Seattle University School of Law Editorial Consultants:  
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 This Month’s Issue If you want to escape from the holiday madness – e.g., Y2K fears, shopping craziness, exam mania, and filing deadlines – you’ve come to the right place. We’re mind-friendly here. We close the millennium with a variety of contributions on free speech, feminism, and the family. C. Thomas Dienes reviews a book on press freedom, and Chris Finan explores a just-published work on the regulation of book erotica. Furthermore, Keith Aoki looks at free speech issues through the lens of a recent book on the Internet, how it is controlled by us, and how it controls us. Speaking of feminist writings, Nancy Knauer examines a biography of the feminist Radclyffe Hall (whose book gave rise to obscenity prosecutions); her review is followed by a reply from the author, Diane Souhami. Leslie Bender also examines a new book on feminist jurisprudence; this review, too, is followed by a reply from the author, Judith Baer. Finally, Michael Grossberg critiques a volume of essays on the family. The editor of the volume, Christopher Wolfe, responds. The three replies in this issue reflect Books-on-Law’s policy of allowing authors to respond to critical reviews of their books. We hope that this policy will allow you, our readers, to make better informed judgments about the books we have reviewed. And remember: Your views are also welcome. So, talk back to us. Also, be sure to check out our archives to see the more than 100 reviews we have published thus far. As for new books, survey the many listed in Book Notices. ———————————————————————A Libertarian’s Defense of a Radical New York University Press has just published a 480-page biography of one of the most controversial lawyers of this century. The book, William M. Kunstler: The Most Hated Lawyer in America (ISBN: 0814751504), is by Samford University Law Professor David J. Langum. Bill Kunstler was the radical lawyer of his day. In the course of his legal career, he would defend anti-war demonstrators, draft-dodgers, Black Power activists, and Leftist "conspirators." He would stand side-by-side, arm-in-arm, clenched-fist with some of the leading dissidents of the ‘60s – Father Daniel Berrigan, Dave Dillinger, Jerry Rubin, Allen Ginsberg, and H. Rap Brown, to name but a few. (He even once defended Lenny Bruce.) He translated his critique of American racism and the legal system into a radical art form of legal practice. No wonder that he was vilified and lauded so often by so many. Recall, he defended the Chicago Seven, Leonard Peltier (the American Indian Movement leader who allegedly killed an FBI agent), Jack Ruby (Lee Harvey Oswald’s killer), and Colin Ferguson (the Long Island Railroad mass murderer). In short, Kunstler delighted in taking on controversial cases, usually representing society's lepers free of charge and often achieving unprecedented courtroom results in seemingly hopeless cases. In William M. Kunstler: The Most Hated Lawyer in America, David Langum (a man with "strong libertarian beliefs") examines this rebellious figure’s life in the law. The book’s fifteen chapters attempt to explain Kunstler’s purported "instinctual drive to play the savior" and "his Davidian fearlessness." Langum concedes that, unlike his subject, he is not a political radical. Nonetheless, he admires Kunstler for "his willingness to do battle against the government, to throw a monkey wrench into its well-oiled machinery . . . ." For such reasons, he adds, "we need thousands of Kunstlers to fight the government and to try to preserve our beloved country as a land of liberty." For more information on Kunstler, see his autobiography (with Shelia Isenberg), titled William M. Kunstler: My Life as a Radical Lawyer (Citadel Press, 1995 updated edition). For other works by Professor Langum, see his Crossing over the Line: Legislating Morality and the Mann Act (University of Chicago Press, 1994); From Maverick to Mainstream: Cumberland School of Law, 1847-1997, with Howard P. Walthall (University of Georgia Press, 1997); and Thomas O. Larkin: A Life of Patriotism and Profit in Old California, with Harlan Hague (University of Oklahoma Press, 1990). ———————————————————————A Radical’s Defense of a Radical Wendy McElroy, a past Books-on-Law contributor, has just-published Queen Silver: The Godless Girl (Prometheus Books: ISBN: 1573927554). (The "Godless Girl" subtitle comes from Cecil B. DeMille, who tagged her as such in a 1929 Hollywood film about her young life.) Queen Silver, believe it or not, was her name. Until her death at 86, Silver was active in working with the Los Angeles chapter of the ACLU. Her commitment to the ACLU traced back to her childhood, when both she and her mother fell victim to the notorious Palmer raids. In those days, the ACLU was one of the very few groups that defended persecuted socialists. In her book, McElroy (who knew and befriended Silver) explains how Silver was "born into radicalism. She attended her first political rally at six days of age. There, her mother, Grace Verne Silver, stood at the podium to denounce the laws and mores that restricted labor – in particular, the labor of women." At the tender age of eight, Silver – "already a veteran speaker at the Free Speech Zone on Los Angeles St. – stunned Los Angeles crowds by delivering a series of six lectures sponsored by the London Society of Science." She preached evolution, so much so that the "Girl Scientist" became a noted figure in the cause of separation of church and state. Her most famous lecture (and pamphlet) was entitled "Evolution, From Monkey to Bryan." (It was later translated into several languages, including Yiddish.) The young Queen once challenged William Jennings Bryan to a public debate, which he declined. Ever active in the radical I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World), the young woman had her own periodical: Queen Silver's Magazine (1923-1931). Queen Silver details and discuses the contours of this incredible woman and her unique journey through the various aspects of American culture from worker’s rights to women’s rights. The author, Wendy McElroy, is also the editor of Freedom, Feminism, and the State (2nd ed., 1999) and the author of The Reasonable Woman: A Guide to Intellectual Survival (Prometheus Books, 1998) and Sexual Correctness: The Gender-Feminist Attack on Women (McFarland, 1996). ———————————————————————The Past, Present & Future of Legal Services Generally, we do not review or profile law reviews . . . for a variety of reasons. Still, a recent issue of the Yale Law & Policy Review (vol. 17, no.1, pp. 283-606) proves the exception, if only because of the quality of the contributions and the variety of expert contributors. The issue is titled "The Future of Legal Services: The Arthur Liman Colloquium Papers." The papers collected in this volume are the outgrowth of a major conference held at Yale Law School in March of 1998. In the Introduction to the issue, Professor Judith Resnik and Ms. Emily Bazelon (a Yale Law School student) note that some 125 people gathered to "explore the state of legal services in light of congressional legislation [circa 1996] that placed restrictions on the kinds of services provided by federally funded programs, limited funding of legal services programs, and increasing poverty." The resulting papers address three central questions: (1) how restrictions and economic cutbacks have affected the Legal Services Corporation; (2) what innovative responses there have been to such restrictions and cutbacks; and (3) whether such restrictions and cutbacks require an "altered vision for legal services." With 19 contributions by 23 contributors, the issue addresses a rich variety of topics ranging from "Legal Services and the Organized Bar" to "Civil Legal Assistance for the Twenty-First Century." Other essays address such topics as "Permanent State Funding," Services "Beyond the Community-Based Approach," "Systematic Reforms," and "Examining the Role of Legal Assistance Agencies in Drug-Related Evictions from Public Housing." The contributors include law professors (including Judith Resnik and Stephen Wizner), a federal district court judge (Robert W. Sweet), a Vermont State supreme court justice (Denise R. Johnson), private law practitioners (including Lawrence J. Fox), and members of the California Commission on Access to Justice (Karen A. Lash, Pauline Gee & Laurie Zelon), the Brennan Center for Justice (David S. Udell), the Center for Law and Social Policy (Alan W. Houseman), and the Tennessee Justice Center (Gordon Bonnyman). There is also a foreword by Lewis J. Liman (Assistant U.S. Atty., NY) and an afterword by the late Judge A. Leon Higginbotham via an "Open Letter to Arthur Liman." For books of related interest, see Linda Perle & Alan W. Houseman, The Legal Services Corporation (1993); and Esther F. Lardent, editor, Civil Justice : An Agenda for the 1990s : Papers of the American Bar Association National Conference on Access to Justice in the 1990S, New Orleans (American Bar Association, 1991). ———————————————————————Forthcoming In January 2000, Books-on-Law features its third annual issue of "Jurists on JURIST." The following reviewers are scheduled to appear:
Ronald K.L. Collins & David M. Skover, Editors, Books-on-Law
————————————————————————————— Board of Editorial Consultants: Raj Bhala, George Washington University Law School; Miriam Galston, George Washington University Law School; Kermit Hall, Ohio State University College of Law; Yale Kamisar, University of Michigan Law School; Lisa G. Lerman, Catholic University of America School of Law; David M. O'Brien, University of Virginia Department of Government and Foreign Affairs; Judith Resnik, Yale Law School; Edwin L. Rubin, University of Pennsylvania Law School; Steven H. Shriffrin, Cornell Law School; Nadine Strossen, New York Law School; David B. Wilkins, Harvard Law School.
Administrative Assistant for Books-on-Law: Ms. Nancy Ammons © Ronald K.L. Collins and David Skover, 1999.
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BOOKS-ON-LAW/From
the Editors - December 1999; v.2, no.10