State Laws

What happens when the law promises liberty—but delivers injustice? In this incisive essay from *Civilization in the United States*, renowned Harvard law professor and civil-liberties advocate Zechariah Chafee, Jr. examines the widening divide between America’s democratic ideals and the legal...

The definitive translation of Plato's Republic, the most influential text in the history of Western philosophy. “To read The Republic as Bloom means it to be read is to question everything we think we know about government, politics, the best human life, and the nature of truth.” —Adam...

What does a state governor do? Learn about the duties of a state governor, who can be a state governor, where they work, and how state governors are elected.

Whither Human Rights in India , edited by Anand Teltumbde, one of India's prominent human rights activists, is a searing and indispensable anthology that brings together some of the most important thinkers, activists and human rights defenders of our time. The essays trace the historical and...

Brought to you by Penguin. By the authors of the international bestseller Why Nations Fail, based on decades of research, this powerful new big-picture framework explains how some countries develop towards and provide liberty while others fall to despotism, anarchy or asphyxiating norms - and...

How does the U.S. House of Representatives work? Discover who can be a representative, what they do, where they work, and more.

From ancient Mesopotamia to today, an “exceptionally rich narrative” (Wall Street Journal) of how humans have used laws to forge civilizations Rulers throughout history have used laws to impose order. But laws were not simply instruments of power and social control. They also offered...

Is the modern administrative state illegitimate? Unconstitutional? Unaccountable? Dangerous? Intolerable? American public law has long been riven by a persistent, serious conflict, a kind of low-grade cold war, over these questions. Cass Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule argue that the administrative state can be redeemed, as long as public officials are constrained by what they call the morality of administrative law. Law and Leviathan elaborates a number of principles that underlie this moral regime. 

How does America, founded on the promise of freedom for all, find itself poised to become a police state? In Police State, legendary "country lawyer" Gerry Spence reveals the unnerving truth of our criminal justice system. In his more than sixty years in the courtroom, Spence has never...

Master public international law by uncovering how treaties, borders, and human rights shape global politics. Whether you are prepping for a rigorous academic exam, analyzing current events, or seeking an engaging commute, this analytical guide transforms complex legal frameworks into accessible...

This “authoritative [and] important” (The New York Times Book Review) “biography” of America’s framing document explores topics ranging from presidential power and freedom of speech to birthright citizenship and beyond, explaining not only what the Constitution says but also why the...

Levels of violent crime have been in a steady decline for centuries-for millennia, even. Over the past 500 years, homicide rates have decreased a hundred-fold. We live in a time that is more orderly and peaceful than ever before in human history. Why, then, does fear of crime dominate modern politics? In Command and Persuade, Peter Baldwin examines the evolution of the state's role in crime and punishment over 3,000 years.

Anna Pigeon, a ranger for the U.S. Park Services, sets off on vacation—an autumn canoe trip in the to the Iron Range in upstate Minnesota. With Anna is her friend Heath, a paraplegic; Heath's fifteen-year-old daughter, Elizabeth; Leah, a wealthy designer of outdoor equipment; and her daughter...

Bloomsbury presents You Must Stand Up written and read by Amanda Becker. The inspiring, on-the-ground story of the rising grassroots leaders in the abortion rights movement during the pivotal first year after Dobbs. When the Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—...

In the first of the three volumes of his projected comprehensive narrative history of the role of law in America from the colonial years through the twentieth century, G. Edward White takes up the central themes of American legal history from the earliest European settlements through the Civil War.

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. This is an audio adaptation of the ⁠OpenStax American Government 3e textbook⁠. The audiobook is produced by ⁠Audileo⁠. What OpenStax says about their textbook: American Government 3e aligns with the topics and objectives of many government...

The first and definitive history of the use of food in United States law and politics as a weapon of conquest and control, a Fast Food Nation for the Black Lives Matter era In 1779, to subjugate Indigenous nations, George Washington ordered his troops to “ruin their crops now in the ground and...

When Abortion Was a Crime is the must-listen book on abortion history. Originally published ahead of the thirtieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, this award-winning study was the first to examine the entire period during which abortion was illegal in the United States, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century and ending with that monumental case in 1973. When Abortion Was a Crime is filled with intimate stories and nuanced analysis, demonstrating how abortion was criminalized and policed—and how millions of women sought abortions regardless of the law.

New Deal Law and Order follows President Franklin Roosevelt, Attorney General Homer Cummings, and their war on crime coalition, which overcame the institutional and political challenges to the legitimacy of national law enforcement. Promises of law and order helped to manage tensions among key Democratic Party factions—organized labor, Black Americans, and white Southerners. Their anticrime program, featuring a strengthened criminal code, an empowered FBI, and the first federal war on marijuana, was essential to the expansion of national authority previously stymied on constitutional grounds.

Bloomsbury presents Westport by James Comey, read by Cassandra Campbell. The gripping new legal thriller from former director of the FBI James Comey. Lawyer Nora Carleton investigates a puzzling murder in the world of high finance... but soon finds herself on trial. Readers love WESTPORT...