The Economist magazine has included the books of two Harvard Law Professors on its list of 2008 “Books of the Year.” Professor Noah Feldman was noted for “The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State” (Princeton University Press, 2008), and Professor Cass Sunstein was recognized for “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness” (Yale University Press, 2008).
Feldman’s book, which analyses the dilemma posed by the huge popular support among many Muslims for explicitly Islamic forms of government, appeared on the magazine’s best books list under the politics and current affairs category. (See review of the book that appeared in the Summer 2008 Harvard Law Bulletin).
Feldman is a leading expert in constitutional law, particularly law and religion, constitutional design and the history of legal theory. He joined the HLS faculty in 2007.
In addition to his most recent book, he is also the author of “After Jihad: America and the Struggle for Islamic Democracy” (2003), “What We Owe Iraq: War and the Ethics of Nation Building” (2004), and “Divided By God: America’s Church-State Problem – and What We Should Do About It” (2005). A regular contributor to the New York Times Magazine, he is also the author of many scholarly articles published in journals such as the Harvard Law Review, the New York University Law Review and the Yale Law Journal.
Sunstein’s book, co-written with Richard Thaler, a University of Chicago economist, appeared under the Economist’s science and technology category. The authors examine how behavioral economics affect everything—from what we eat in restaurants to our investments and pension choices. (See review of “Nudge” that appeared in the Fall 2008 Harvard Law Bulletin).
Sunstein joined the HLS faculty this Fall as the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law. He also serves as the director of the Program on Risk Regulation at HLS.
The author or co-author of more than 15 books and hundreds of scholarly articles, Sunstein is the most cited law professor in the United States. He has written extensively on many aspects of public law, including the regulation of risk, the nature of rights, judicial decision-making, and numerous features of administrative, environmental, and constitutional doctrine. In recent years, he has worked on various projects involving the relationship between law and human behavior.
Also on the list was Anthony Lewis’ book “Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment” (Basic Books, 2008). Lewis, a New York Times columnist and former lecturer at HLS, attended Harvard Law School from 1956 to 1957.