10 Best Legal History Books

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The intimate, inspiring, and authoritative biography of Sandra Day O’Connor, America’s first female Supreme Court justice, drawing on exclusive interviews and first-time access to Justice O’Connor’s archives ” She’s a hero for our time, and this is the biography for our time.”– Walter Isaacson Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by NPR and The Washington Post She was born in 1930 in El Paso and grew up on a cattle ranch in Arizona. At a time when women were expected to be homemakers, she set her sights on Stanford University. When she graduated near the top of her law school class in 1952, no firm would even interview her. But Sandra Day O’Connor’s story is that of a woman who repeatedly shattered glass ceilings–doing so with a blend of grace, wisdom, humor, understatement, and cowgirl toughness. She became the first ever female majority leader of a state senate. As a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals, she stood up to corrupt lawyers and humanized the law. When she arrived at the United States Supreme Court, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, she began a quarter-century tenure on the Court, hearing cases that ultimately shaped American law. Diagnosed with cancer at fifty-eight, and caring for a husband with Alzheimer’s, O’Connor endured every difficulty with grit and poise. Women and men who want to be leaders and be first in their own lives–who want to learn when to walk away and when to stand their ground–will be inspired by O’Connor’s example. This is a remarkably vivid and personal portrait of a woman who loved her family, who believed in serving her country, and who, when she became the most powerful woman in America, built a bridge forward for all women. Praise for First “Cinematic . . . poignant . . . illuminating and eminently readable . . . First gives us a real sense of Sandra Day O’Connor the human being. . . . Thomas gives O’Connor the credit she deserves.” — The Washington Post “[A] fascinating and revelatory biography . . . a richly detailed picture of [O’Connor’s] personal and professional life . . . Evan Thomas’s book is not just a biography of a remarkable woman, but an elegy for a worldview that, in law as well as politics, has disappeared from the nation’s main stages.” — The New York Times Book Review

*NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX SERIES* A gripping true-crime story of a shocking miscarriage of justice, from international bestselling thriller author John Grisham, author of A Time to Kill , The Firm and The Whistler. In the baseball draft of 1971, Ron Williamson was the first player chosen from Oklahoma. Signing with Oakland, he said goodbye to his small home town and left for California to pursue his dreams of glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits – drinking, drugs and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept 20 hours a day on her sofa. In 1982, a 21 year-old cocktail waitress, Debra Sue Carter, was raped and murdered, and for five years the crime went unsolved. Finally, desperate for someone to blame, police came to suspect Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to Death Row. But as Grisham methodically lays out, there was no case against him. Ron Williamson was wrongly condemned to die. If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you. In 2018, THE INNOCENT MAN was adapted by Netflix into a gripping six-part true crime series. ‘A master at the art of deft characterisation and the skilful delivery of hair-raising crescendos’ – Irish Independent ‘John Grisham is the master of legal fiction’ – Jodi Picoult ‘The best thriller writer alive’ – Ken Follett ‘ John Grisham has perfected the art of cooking up convincing, fast- paced thrillers’ – Telegraph ‘Grisham is a superb, instinctive storyteller’ – The Times ‘Grisham’s storytelling genius reminds us that when it comes to legal drama, the master is in a league of his own.’ – Daily Record ‘Masterful – when Grisham gets in the courtroom he lets rip, drawing scenes so real they’re not just alive, they’re pulsating’ – Mirror ‘A giant of the thriller genre’ – TimeOut

WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER USA TODAY BESTSELLER PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AMAZON BESTSELLER With Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s sudden passing, control of the Supreme Court–and with it the fate of the Constitution–has become the deciding issue for many voters in the 2020 presidential election. And the stakes could not be higher. With a simple majority on the Supreme Court, the left will have the power to curtail or even abolish the freedoms that have made our country a beacon to the world. We are one vote away from losing the Republic that the Founders handed down to us. Our most precious constitutional rights hang by a thread. Senator Ted Cruz has spent his entire career on the front line of the war to protect our constitutional rights. And as a Supreme Court clerk, solicitor general of Texas, and private litigator, he played a key role in some of the most important legal cases of the past two decades. In One Vote Away , you will discover how often the high court decisions that affect your life have been decided by just one vote. One vote preserves your right to speak freely, to bear arms, and to exercise your faith. One vote will determine whether your children enjoy their full inheritance as American citizens. God may endow us with “certain unalienable rights,” but whether we enjoy them depends on nine judges–the “priests of the robe” who have the last say in our system of government. Drawing back the curtain of their temple, Senator Cruz reveals the struggles, arguments, and strife that have shaped the fate of those rights. No one who reads One Vote Away can ever again take a single seat on the Supreme Court for granted.

Why do we need laws? What rights are protected by law? When was forensic evidence first used in court? This book explores big questions like these, explaining the laws and legal precedents, and religious, political, and moral codes that have shaped the world we live in. Written in plain English, The Law Book cuts through the legal jargon and is packed with pithy explanations of the most important milestones in legal history, with step-by-step diagrams and witty illustrations that untangle knotty concepts. From the earliest laws, such as the Code of Hammurabi, through groundbreaking legislation including Magna Carta and the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, The Law Book offers an engaging overview of legal history across the world all the way into the 21st century with copyright in the digital age, same-sex marriage, and the “right to be forgotten”. Covering the fight for universal suffrage and workers’ rights, and the establishment of international legal bodies like INTERPOL and the European Court of Justice, The Law Book explains the stories behind each milestone development. Continuing the Big Ideas series’ trademark combination of authoritative, informative text, and bold graphics, The Law Book uses an innovative visual approach to make the subject accessible to everyone, whether you’re a law student, a legal professional, or an armchair expert.