This fall, the Harvard Law School Library hosted a series of book talks by HLS authors, with topics ranging from Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts to a Citizen’s Guide to Impeachment. As part of this ongoing series, faculty authors from various disciplines shared their research and discussed their recently published books with a panel of colleagues and the Harvard Law community.
The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President
by Noah Feldman
Described as ‘a sweeping reexamination of the Founding Father who transformed the United States in each of his political “lives”—as a revolutionary thinker, as a partisan political strategist, and as a president,’ Noah Feldman’s most recent book, “The Three Lives of James Madison,” examines the life of the fourth President of the United States. Feldman is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law and director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law at Harvard Law School. The panel discussion of Feldman’s book included commentary by David Armitage, Harvard University Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History; Bruce Mann, Carl F. Schipper, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; and Eric Nelson, Robert M. Beren Professor of Government, Harvard University.
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Stand Your Ground: A History of America’s Love Affair with Lethal Self-Defense
by Caroline Light
Caroline Light, director of undergraduate studies, lecturer on Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Harvard University, explores the development of the American right to self-defense, from Reconstruction to the Trayvon Martin case, in her latest book, “Stand Your Ground: A History of America’s Love Affair with Lethal Self-Defense.” A Harvard Law School panel discussion of her book included panelists Patricia Williams, Radcliffe Institute Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Fellow and James L. Dohr Professor of Law at Columbia Law School; Jeannie Suk Gersen, John H. Watson, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School; and Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr., Clinical Professor of Law and Director, Criminal Justice Institute, Harvard Law School.
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Impeachment: A Citizen’s Guide
by Cass R. Sunstein
In his book “Impeachment: A Citizen’s Guide,” Cass Sunstein provides a guide to an essential tool of self-government and emphasizes the people’s role in holding presidents accountable. The Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard University, Sunstein served as the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2012.
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The Indian Legal Profession in the Age of Globalization: The Rise of the Corporate Legal Sector and Its Impact on Lawyers and Society
by David B. Wilkins, Vikramaditya S. Khanna & David M. Trubek (editors)
The rise of the corporate legal sector and its impact on lawyers and society is the focus of a book co-edited by Harvard Law School Professor David B. Wilkins, University of Michigan Law School Professor Vikramaditya S. Khanna, and David M. Trubek, a senior research fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession. Their book, “The Indian Legal Profession in the Age of Globalization,” was the focus of a HLS Library book talk with commentator Harvard Business School Professor Tarun Khanna, director, South Asia Institute, Harvard University. Wilkins is the faculty director of the Center on the Legal Profession, and vice dean for Global Initiatives on the Legal Profession, at Harvard Law School. Their talk was co-sponsored with the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession and the Harvard University South Asia Institute.
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Law, Religion, and Health in the United States
by I. Glenn Cohen, Holly Fernandez Lynch & Elizabeth Sepper (editors)
Harvard Law School Professor I. Glenn Cohen, faculty director of Harvard Law School’s Petrie-Flom Center, recently co-edited “Law, Religion, and Health in the United States,” with Elizabeth Sepper, associate professor of law, Washington University School of Law, and former Petrie-Flom Executive Director Holly Fernandez Lynch, who currently serves as an assistant professor of law in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. The HLS Library Book panel with Cohen, Sepper and Diane L. Moore, director of the Religious Literacy Project, senior lecturer on Religious Studies and Education, and senior fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School, was moderated by Harvard Law School Professor Intisar A. Rabb, director of the Islamic Legal Studies Program, Harvard Law School. Their talk was co-sponsored with The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.
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Disability, Human Rights, and Information Technology
by Jonathan Lazar and Michael Ashley Stein (editors)
The right to access the same digital content at the same time and at the same cost as people without disabilities is implicit in several human rights instruments and is featured prominently in Articles 9 and 21 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Visiting Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability Michael Ashley Stein tackles the global issue of equal access to information in his book “Disability, Human Rights, and Information Technology,” co-edited by Jonathan Lazar, professor of Computer and Information Sciences and Director of the Undergraduate Program in Information Systems at Towson University.
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Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts
by Intisar A. Rabb and & Abigail Krasner Balbale (editors)
In their book, “Justice and Leadership in Early Islamic Courts,” Harvard Law School Professor Intisar A. Rabb, the director of the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School, and Abigail Krasner Balbale, assistant professor of the Cultural History of the Islamic World at Bard Graduate Center, brought together ten leading scholars of Islamic law to examine the history of early Islamic courts. The book, inspired by the scholarship of Roy Parviz Mottahedeh and composed in his honor, presents an in-depth exploration of the administration of justice during Islam’s founding period, 632–1250 CE. For the HLS Library book talk, panelists included William A. Graham, Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, and University Distinguished Service Professor, and Director, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, Harvard University; Cemal Kafadar, Vehbi Koç Professor of Turkish Studies, Harvard University Department of History; and Ahmed El Shamsy, Senior Visiting fellow, Harvard Law School Islamic Legal Studies Program – SHARIASource, and Associate Professor of Islamic Thought, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, The University of Chicago. This talk is co-sponsored with the International Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School, the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School, the Harvard University Department of History, the Alwaleed Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University, and the Harvard Muslim Law Students Association.
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Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws That Affect Us Today
by Cynthia Levinson and Sanford Levinson
The creation of the Constitution and how contemporary problems were first introduced are the focus of a new book “Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, their Fights and the Flaws that Affect Us Today,” by husband-and-wife team Cynthia Levinson, author, and Sanford Levinson, visiting professor of law and W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law, University of Texas Law School. Their book was discussed at an HLS Library book talk with panelists R. Shep Melnick, Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr. Professor of American Politics, Boston College; Daniel Carpenter, Allie S. Freed Professor of Government and Director of Social Sciences at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University; Dan Covino, Lawrence S. Pidgeon Director, Education Professions Community, Grinnell College; and Amy Shine Jones, History Department Faculty, Haverhill High School, discussed the book. This talk was co-sponsored with the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
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The Futility of Law and Development: China and the Dangers of Exporting American Law
by Jedidiah J. Kroncke
Jedidiah J. Kroncke, professor, FGV Sao Paulo School of Law (Brazil), focuses on China and the dangers of exporting American Law in his new book “The Futility of Law and Development. Kroncke discussed his book at HLS with panelists William P. Alford, Vice Dean for the Graduate Program and International Legal Studies, Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law, Director, East Asian Legal Studies Program, and Chair, Harvard Law School Project on Disability; David Armitage, Harvard University Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History; Intisar A. Rabb, Professor of Law, Director, Islamic Legal Studies Program, Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor, Harvard University Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Professor of History, Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences; and Xiaoqian Hu, Harvard Law School. This talk was co-sponsored with the East Asian Legal Studies program at Harvard Law School and with the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession.