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When asked what to read the summer before starting law school, I recommend, instead, that you take the summer off, if you can. It's the last real vacation you'll have. Thereafter, however, ...
SUMMER READING
1. Old Testament, 1st five books -- The Pentateuch. The first five books of the Old Testament are traditionally known as the the portion of the Bible addressing The Law.
2. New Testament. The New Testament is authoritative on, among other things, the subject of morality, the proper foundation of law.
3. Harry Jaffa, Original Intent and the Framers of the Constitution -- A Disputed Question. This book analyzes the case for original intent, placing it in a rich historical context.
4. The Federalist Papers. The collected works commonly known as The Federalist Papers present the case for the United States Constitution.
5. The Anti-Federalist Papers. More federalist than The Federalist Papers, The Anti-Federalist Papers make the case for the Bill of Rights.
6. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle discusses the virtuous life pursuing the ultimate end of man, happiness.
7. Plato, Republic. Using Socrates as his main character, Plato discusses justice, wisdom, and education and applies them to ultimate happiness.
8. Frederick Douglas, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave, Written by Himself. Douglas, a slave who became an influential abolitionist, relates the atrocities of slavery, the importance of education, and his own rise to the cause of freedom.
9. Marion L. Starkey, The Devil in Massachusetts. Starkey dramatically narrates the hysteria surrounding a handful of girls in Salem, Massachusetts. She explores the psychology which led to a tragic loss of reason in the area's society and courts.
10. Alex de Tocqueville, Democracy in America. A French sociologist examines life, politics, and morals in 19th century America.
11. Charles Dickens, American Notes for General Circulation. Famous as a novelist, Dickens relates his observations on the young experiment in Democracy, covering social customs, religious practices, judicial procedures, and the treatment of the destitute.
12. John Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights. This book contains philosophical analysis by arguably the world's foremost living natural law thinker.
13. Javier Hervada, Natural Law and Natural Rights: A Critical Introduction. The book provides an introduction to the world's most enduring legal philosophy that is not based on religious revelation or belief.
14. Jose M. Martinez Doral, The Structure of Juridical Knowledge. This work addresses law in its own right.
15. C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man. Lewis introduces legal philosophy.
16. Mary Ann Glendon, Abortion and Divorce in Western Law. Harvard law professor critiques the impact on women of the changes in divorce and abortion positive law. She does so from a comparative law perspective.
17. Mary Ann Glendon, Rights Talk: The Impoverishment of Political Discourse. Deals with the overemphasis of the discussion of rights in American jurisprudence, and its consequences.
18. Mary Ann Glendon, A Nation Under Lawyers. This book provides insight into the real workings of law in America.
19. Roger Kimball, Tenured Radicals: How Politics Has Corrupted Our Higher Education. The authors address the formation of the social mindset and viewpoints that influence how a people thinks, and that form the culture in which law arises.
20. Richard J. Ellis, The Dark Side of the Left: Illiberal Egalitarianism in America. "[A] lifelong democrat who voted for Jimmy Carter in 1980," and "a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union" (from the preface) looks at the Left.
21. Daniel A. Farber and Suzanna Sherry, Beyond All Reason: The Radical Assault on Truth in American Law. The authors appraise the methodology and impact of certain modern ideologies on the law.
22. Richard Hofstadter, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life.
23. Thomas Paine and Sydney Hook, Common Sense, the Rights of Man, and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine.
24. David Horowitz & Peter Collier, Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts About the Sixties. Two former 60's radicals, editors of a radical publication while at Berkeley, who came to the view that their thinking had been horribly flawed, write; in part, they address the illegalities of some 60's groups. Peter Collier was brought up as a communist.
25. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Treatise on Law. This work presents arguably the West's greatest philosopher analyzing the nature and structure of law.
26. Baron Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Law. An important treatise on law and politics. An important source of the thinking of our nation's Founding Fathers, particularly on the law as it relates to political liberty.
27. Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History. A seminal work from one of the most profound defenders of natural law in the 20th century.
28. Plato's Laws. Arguably Plato's most authoritative work on law and its influence on political life.
29. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, edited by Robert W. Johannsen. The greatest of all American statesmen demonstrates in open political debate that the belief in an unchanging human nature, shared by all men and women, articulated in the Declaration of Independence, is the foundation of our liberties.
30. Locke's Second Treatise. The primary influence on the political thought of the founding generation, this work is highly relevant to American checks and balances.
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