Books in the Critical America series

Discusses how discrimination by default creates a situation in which disparate outcomes are expected, accepted, and taken for granted

Traces the reasoning employed by the courts in their efforts to justify the whiteness of some and the non-whiteness of others, and revealed the criteria that were used, often arbitrarily, to determine whiteness, and thus citizenship: skin color, facial features, national origin, language, culture, ancestry, scientific opinion, and more.

Explores the interaction of race and law enforcement in the controversial area of hate crime. Bell includes in her work the experiences of detectives who are women, Black, Latino, and Asian American, exploring the impact of the racial identity of both the hate crime victim and the officers' handling of bias crimes.

Papke (law and liberal arts, Indiana U.) traces the lineage of legal heretics from 19th-century activists up to more recent radicals and to the contemporary rejection of legal authority by various militia and anti-abortion movements. He illuminates a tradition of American legal heresy, linked by a

Demonstrates how the Court often avoids socially sensitive cases, such as those involving racial and ethnic discrimination, gender inequalities, abortion restrictions, sexual orientation discrimination, and environmental abuses.

Questions of religious freedom continue to excite passionate public debate. Proposals involving school prayer and the posting of the Ten Commandments in schools and courtrooms perennially spur controversy. The author argues that we must get over our presumption that all religions are equally true and virtuous and authentically American.

Wright (law, Samford U.) attacks the common American notion that the spread of commercialization is a natural manifestation of freedom and the pursuit of well-being. Topics include the constitutional arguments related to commercial free speech law, the influence of so-called controversial ads, the

Wright (law, Cumberland School of Law, Samford U.) traces the basic legal and political implications of life for the desperately poor, arguing that the law fails to recognize the special circumstances of the severely deprived. He explores the Constitution as it is applied to the poor in our society

An examination of how some legal issues are losing cases - but that's okay because advances are still possible.

This ground-breaking anthology examines the mixed race experience and the impact of law on mixed race citizens in America.

Offers discussion on legal ethics by introducing the historical and theoretical background and then connecting it to real world issues while addressing lawyers' ethical obligations to work for social justice. This book features differing critical approaches and opens up fresh avenues of ethical debate.

Is the new scholarship a vacuous, overpoliticized, soon-to-be-vanquished trend or the harbinger of an important new paradigm? Is reconciliation possible? This title deals with these questions.

Whether in the form of Christmas trees in town squares or prayer in school, fierce disputes over the separation of church and state have long bedeviled this country. This book argues that the separation of church and state primarily manifests and reinforces Christian domination in American society.

"Personal Knowledge and Beyond" seeks to foster a cross-disciplinary rethinking of ethnography's possibilities and limits for the study of religions. It provides an overview of recent debates while also pushing them in new directions.

Drawing on work from several disciplines - including law, political theory, philosophy, and anthropology, this book develops alternative accounts of truth and autonomy as the foundations for freedom of expression.

This anthology focuses on the legal rights of women of colour around the world. The essays discuss topical themes such as responses to white feminism, female genital mutilation and intersections of law, and the text addresses the role and status of women worldwide.

A legal examination of how immigrants rights are - or are not - being protected under the constituion.

Asian American immigration/citizenship law.

Originalism is the practice of reviewing constitutional cases by seeking to discern the framers' and ratifiers' intent. This text argues that the "jurisprudence of original intent," represented on the 2002 Supreme Court by Justice Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, has failed on its own terms.

Sets out to bring an international framework to the analysis to international and US legal, political and cultural crises. It explores the US's moral supremacy during a time of domestic shortcomings and asks whether insisting that other nations adhere to US norms may harm societies.

An authoritative collection of writings from a prominent public intellectual.