Legally Speaking: Contemporary American Culture and the Law
This is an innovative and engaging study exploring the pervasive influence of law in the shaping of contemporary American culture. It is a strikingly original piece of work for which no comparable models exist. Porsdam displays an impressive mastery of relevant legal, historical, and literary sources.(Maxwell H. Bloomfield, author ofAmerican Lawyers in a Changing Society, 1776--1876)I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I believe it to be full of valuable insight. Porsdam's emphasis on the symbolic, unifying, aspirational side of law in American life, and her showing of this aspect of law through a close look at a series of contemporary 'cultural texts,' combine to produce a unique scholarly contribution.(Lewis D. Sargentich, Law School, Harvard University)