The Oxford Companion to American Law

Rating:
Summary: American Law
Review: I came by this book while actually looking for something else, and found it to be very informative and useful. Similar to other Oxford companions it is cross-referenced and attempts to be usable to both the legal community as well as ordinary people.

The bookk is centered upon themes in law (common law, constitutional law, environmental law, etc. rather than specific cases, which makes it a bit cumbersome until the reader learns what the book is really meant to provide. If one is looking for specific Supreme Court cases then the companion to the Supreme Court should be consulted. But the point is that other books are out there for specific case histories. This book attempts to pull legal issues together into a single point of reference. True legal scholars will likely feel this book is too brief on specifics, but the lay reader will find it useful in putting perspective on common legal questions of the present.

Rating:
Summary: Useful but has some biased entries.....
Review: This tome (*large* volume) contains much interesting and useful material but, unfortunately, a very few of its authors have an ideological axe to grind. A publication of this sort should be aimed at objectivity, and not be a forum for certain "contributors" to propagate their personal sociological/political agendas.

Otherwise, I find this to be a generally worthwhile publication, but do be on your guard. =)