Subjects:  1. Asia    2. Asia - General    3. Asia - History    4. Encyclopedias    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: American    8. History / United States / General    9. Humanities    10. Laws of Other Jurisdictions & General Law    11. Reference works    12. USA   

Subjects:  1. Asylum, Right of    2. Emigration & Immigration    3. Emigration and immigration    4. Encyclopedias    5. General    6. Immigrants    7. Law    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - General    10. Immigration & emigration    11. Law / General   

Reviews (13)

An excellent reference
It is difficult to say whether the contentious atmosphere that currently exists regarding the legal opinions of the Supreme Court is greater than any other time in the history of the United States. There have been times, especially during the Civil War and World War I when the Supreme Court raised the ire of many a citizen. Some of the "activist" justices, as some of them are now called, could perhaps be designated as "activist light" if compared with some of the justices of the past. This book gives ample evidence for this comparison, but also gives information on a wide variety of legal issues that the Supreme Court has had to deal with throughout its history. It would probably not be read from cover to cover, but instead serves as a general reference for those readers who are not and do not intend to become legal scholars, but are curious as to the reasoning patterns deployed by the justices who sat on the Court. Readers who are approaching this subject for the first time will find many surprises about the Court, both in the opinions expressed by the judges and in their personal histories and backgrounds. It is fair to say that legal opinions are guided predominantly by the historical context in which they are put forth, and this claim seems to gain more substantiation as more articles in this book are read and studied.
Massive tome on the Supreme Court.
_The Oxford Companion to the United States Supreme Court of the United States_(Kermit Hall, ed.) is a massive tome containing a vast swath of information: cases, traditions, theories of constitutional interpretations, historical events, and biographies of all of the Supreme Court Justices.It has the same material (word for word) as Kermit Hall's _The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions_ but this is much more worthwhile reference work because it contains more contextual material than the cases themselves.This book is by no means exhaustive, but it provides a very informative overview of what the Supreme Court has been up to for the past two hundred years and the very different personalities serving on the body.

A worthy companion
As the nation prepares to welcome the seventeenth Chief Justice, this book is a wonderful guide to the processes of the least 'media-exposed' branch of the federal government and its highest institution, the Supreme Court.
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Subjects:  1. Courts - Supreme Court    2. Encyclopedias    3. Essays    4. Federal Jurisdiction    5. Government - Federal    6. Law    7. Legal Reference / Law Profession    8. Reference    9. Supreme Court    10. United States    11. United States.    12. Comparative law    13. Constitutional & administrative law    14. Courts & procedure    15. Law / Reference    16. Law | Legal History    17. Laws of Other Jurisdictions & General Law    18. USA   

Reviews (4)

Informative... But intellectually useless.
This book is actually a direct translation of a major comparative study by the late shi`i scholar Muhammad Jowwad Maghniyyah.The original work as well as the translation simply list religious rules regarding certain cases and highlights the differences between the Sunni and shi`i scholars. Encyclopedia of Islamic Law
As a large and growing body of Muslims speak English as a first language, reference works for believers are increasingly available in what was once the language of the orientalists.Massive source books, such as the compilations of the hadith (accounts of the Prophet Muhammad's sayings or doings) now provide a fair representation of what previously had only been accessible in the traditional languages of Islam.Bakhtiar takes credit for "adapting" the Encyclopedia of Islamic Law, which means that she has mostly translated one bookfrom Arabic, then reshaped it for an English-speaking readership. A most needed reference book
Author fills a big gap in this field of comperative study of Islamic sects and suprizingly it even includes the shia't belief. As the name suggests it is all about how each school of thought consideres the Islamic law, what is their opinion on certain issues. Of course issues that are not disputed is not covered but only those that are different is covered. Author also provides some explanations behind the opinions. It is very good book for person doing comperative study and for more details you can go back to sources, Shafii's book, Muwatta or others.It is a good book for Imam's in this country where they have to answer to questions coming from variety of muslim groups contrary to in the home country it is more uniform, people are generally in same sect. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. General    3. Islam - General    4. Islam - Law    5. Islamic Law    6. Law    7. Reference    8. Religion - World Religions    9. Islam    10. Jurisprudence    11. Jurisprudence & General Issues    12. Religion   

Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. Law    3. Reference    4. Reference - General    5. Dictionaries    6. Economics    7. Law as it applies to other professions    8. Reference works   

Subjects:  1. Crime    2. Criminal Law - General    3. Criminal justice, Administration of    4. Criminal law    5. Encyclopedias    6. Law    7. Legal Reference / Law Profession    8. United States    9. Crime & criminology    10. USA   

Editorial Review

Kermit L. Hall, Dean of the College of Humanities, Executive Dean of the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences, and Professor of History and Law at Ohio State University, is well versed in American constitutional and legal history, and has a skillful touch when it comes to editing the contributions of well over 100 legal scholars (from attorneys and state supreme court justices to professors of law, political science, constitutional history, and government), producing a reference tome that invites the attention of lay legal beagles, students of American history, and practicing members of the legal profession.Read more

Reviews (10)

Useful reference book
The "Oxford Guide to US Supreme Court Decisions" is not much more than that. It gives an extremely expansive overview of all US Supreme Court cases that can remotely be considered important, throughout the period of its existence. Every case contains information on the reference number, the composition of the majority, concurrence and dissents, and a summary of what the case or controversy was about by a legal scholar.
Oxford Guire to US Supreme Court Decisions
This is a handy reference to quickly correlate discussions of past decisions in the many articles on supreme court actions as well as during the confirmation process. It is a good book for every supreme court watcher to have on the shelf.

Great Introduction Book
This book is perfect if you are interested in important decisions of the Supreme court but do not want to spend hours reading arguments, decisions and dissents in a civics book or findlaw.Oxford explains what happened in the case, why it is important and what the Supreme Court's decision did for American law.
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Subjects:  1. Constitutional law    2. Courts - General    3. Digests    4. Encyclopedias    5. Government - Federal    6. Law    7. Legal History    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. Reference    10. United States    11. United States - General    12. Civil law (general works)    13. History, American    14. Law / Reference    15. Law reports    16. USA   

Reviews (1)

Homicidal fun for the whole family
Mostly addresses the body count ( who did what to whom) and not really big on the whys. But it is handy for reference as to dates and locations. Kinda skims over the psychological aspects with exception to Dahmer who seems to get a disproportionate amount of attention ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. General    3. Law    4. Murder - Serial Killers    5. Serial murderers    6. True Crime / Espionage    7. Reference works    8. True crime   

Subjects:  1. Americas (North Central South West Indies)    2. Ethnic Issues    3. Ethnic Studies - Native American Studies    4. General    5. History    6. History: American    7. Reference    8. Citizenship & nationality law    9. Civil rights & citizenship    10. History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies)    11. Indigenous peoples    12. North America    13. Reference works    14. USA   

Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. History - U.S.    3. Reference    4. United States - State & Local - South    5. American history    6. American studies    7. Central Southern states    8. Reference / Encyclopedias    9. abolition; Anglo-American antebellum culture; Atlantic world; Civil War battlefields; Cold War; colonial heritage; Confederate States of America; emancipation; frontier heritage; Great Depression; globalization; Paleo-Indian period; archaic period; woodland period; Mississippian period; Indian removal; Jacksonian Democracy; Jeffersonian Tradition; Korean War; maritime tradition; Mexican War; black migration; military bases; military tradition; New Deal; Progressive Era; Reconstruction; sharecropping; slave culture; slave revolts; Spanish-American War; Vietnam War; War of 1812; World War I; World War II; Robert Beverly; Daniel Boone; William Byrd II; John C. Calhoun; Jimmy Carter; Citizens' Councils; Bill Clinton; Confederate veterans; Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); Davy Crockett; Jefferson Davis; Frederick Douglass; W. E. B. Du Bois; Medgar Evers; Farm Security Administration; George Fitzhugh; Nathan Bedford Forrest; John Hope Franklin; Grimke sisters; Fannie Lou Hamer; James Henry Hammond; Andrew Jackson; Jesse Jackson; Stonewall Jackson; Jamestown; Thomas Jefferson; Andrew Johnson; Lyndon B. Johnson; Martin Luther King Jr.; Robert E. Lee; John Roy Lynch; James Madison; James Meredith; James Monroe; NAACP; Frederick Law Olmstead; Frank Owsley; U. B. Phillips; James Knox Polk; Elizabeth Allston Pringle; John Randolph; Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); Southern Historical Association; Southern Historical Society; Jeb Stuart; Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); John Taylor; Trail of Tears; Nat Turner; United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC); 1965 Voting Rights Act; Booker T. Washington; Ida B. Wells-Barnett; Woodrow Wilson; Carter G. Woodson; C. Vann Woodward; Alvin C. York   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Crime    3. Criminals    4. Dictionaries    5. Encyclopedias    6. Sociology    7. United States   

Reviews (2)

Useful but has some biased entries.....
This tome (*large* volume) contains much interesting and useful material but, unfortunately, a very few of its authors have an ideological axe to grind. A publication of this sort should be aimed at objectivity, and not be a forum for certain "contributors" to propagate their personal sociological/political agendas. American Law
I came by this book while actually looking for something else, and found it to be very informative and useful.Similar to other Oxford companions it is cross-referenced and attempts to be usable to both the legal community as well as ordinary people.Read more

Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. Law    3. Legal History    4. Legal Reference / Law Profession    5. Legal System    6. United States    7. United States - General    8. Law / Legal History    9. Law | Legal History    10. Laws of Other Jurisdictions & General Law    11. Reference works    12. USA   

Reviews (1)

People are alike all over
The first thing that hits you looking through this 3 volume set is how ready, willing and able the human race is, world-wide, to kill, kill, kill. If the human race was a car, it would have been sent back to the factory, the schematics destroyed, and the engineers would have started all over again from scratch! Serious design flaws.
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Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. Genocide    3. History    4. History - General History    5. International    6. Law    7. Political Advocacy    8. Political And Civil Rights    9. Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights    10. Political Freedom & Security - Human Rights    11. War Crimes And Criminals    12. World - General   

Subjects:  1. Civilization    2. Encyclopedias    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History - U.S.    6. Reference    7. Social History    8. Southern States    9. United States - State & Local - South    10. Central Southern states    11. Cultural studies    12. Reference / Encyclopedias    13. Religious groups    14. Southeastern & South Atlantic states    15. southern religion; religion in the South; Appalachian religion; church architecture; Asian religions; black religion; country churches; religion and civil rights; religious diversity; ethnic protestantism; folk religion; fundamentalism; Islam; Jewish religious life; Latino religion; missionary activities; Native American religion; New Age religion; pentecostalism; preacher; restorationist Christianity; revivalism; Roman Catholicism; spirituality; theological orthodoxy; urban religion; women and religion; African Methodist Episcopal churches; Francis Asbury; Bible belt; blue laws; Alexander Campbell; Will D. Campbell; church camps and retreats; James Cannon Jr.; Christian Broadcasting Network; James McBride Dabbs; John England; Jerry Falwell; Billy Graham; Brooks Hays; Martin Luther King Jr.; Thomas Merton; Charlotte Digges "Lottie" Moon; moral majority; Moravians; Baptist; Presbyterian; Episcopal; Oral Roberts; serpent handlers; Shakers; Sunday School; James Henley Thornwell   

Editorial Review

Here is a practical book for non-lawyers, providing clear answers to frequently asked questions in 74 different areas of the law. "What do I do about my noisy neighbors?" "What are my rights if I'm fired from my job?" "Do I really need to make a will?" In lieu of going to law school, this book gives a good, basic grounding on the legal matters most likely to touch your life--your home, your car, your money, and your job, among others. It's an excellent reference book for any home library. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent overview of various laws for everyday life.
If there is only one legal book that you wish to buy, let it be this one. Or if you are looking to buy your first legal book, this is the best choice. The reason is that this book contains information on the law in a great many areas of everyday life - houses, neighbors, landlords and tenants, workplace rights, small businesses, patents, wills and estate planning, parents and children, etc. There are also two valuable chapters on courts and criminal law. These two chapters have information on how to represent yourself in court, how to deal with your lawyer, and what to do in case of an arrest or search. Good basic advice
This is a good book for general advice on how to deal with everyday problems.Great bathroom reading! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. General    3. Law    4. Law (General)    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Legal System    7. Miscellanea    8. Popular works    9. Reference    10. United States   

Subjects:  1. Constitutional    2. Encyclopedias    3. General    4. Government - Legislative Branch    5. Government - U.S. Government    6. Law    7. Law (General)    8. Politics / Current Events    9. Politics/International Relations    10. U.S. Congress (General)    11. United States    12. Central government    13. Laws of Other Jurisdictions & General Law    14. USA   

Subjects:  1. Encyclopedias    2. General    3. International    4. Law    5. Legal Reference / Law Profession    6. Reference    7. Law / General    8. Political Science    9. Foreign Legal Systems   

Reviews (2)

NotSo "Great"
I was excited at the prospect of the author updating his earlier works, especially the "Badmen and Bloodletters" series. What I saw was a shock. To begin with, did anyone edit this before it was printed? There are pictures with incomplete captions, misspelled names, incorrect names. A lot of what appears was lifted directly from those earlier Nash books without any updates or editing. Thus, I was shocked to see the continued use of the offensive word "Negro" in Nash's narratives.
With a true crime bibliography of more than 12,000 entries
The result of ten years of painstaking research which has subsequently been distilled into a two-volume work of seminal importance by compiler and editor Jay Robert Nash, The Great Pictorial History Of World Crime offers a vividly narrative text of profiling the faces of crime around the world and is enhanced with more than 2,500 illustrations, an annotated index of approximately 10,000 entries, and a true crime bibliography of more than 12,000 entries. Alphabetically organized, Volume I ranges from Assassination; Bigamy; Burglary; Cannibalism; and Drugs, to Fraud, Gangs, Gangsters & Organized Crime; and Kidnapping. Volume II ranges from Celebrity Slayings; Mass Murder; Serial Killers; Unsolved Homicides; Piracy; Robbery; Secret Criminal Societies; and Terrorism. Drawing from local, national, and international archives, police and intelligence agencies, museums and historical societies, as well as Nash's own vast private collection, The Great Pictorial History Of World Crime is quite justifiably recognized as the standard reference work in the very specialized field of historical research dedicated to crime and the criminal. This is a unique and strongly recommended acquisition for personal, academic and community library World History and Criminology Studies reference collections. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Sociology    2. History    3. Legal Reference / Law Profession    4. Pictorial works    5. Legal History    6. Criminal Law    7. Law / Criminal Law    8. World history    9. Criminal Law - General    10. Crime    11. Criminals    12. Social Science    13. Encyclopedias   

Editorial Review

They're all there, starting with Anthony Joseph Accardo (1906-1992), the Chicago mob leader known as Tony to crime pals, Mr. Accardo to underlings, Joe Batters to his subordinates, and as "having more brains before breakfast than Al Capone had all day" to syndicate supporters, and working through the alphabet to Abner "Longy" Zwillman (1899-1959), a crime-syndicate founder and New Jersey boss, one of the most feared of the Jewish Mafia, known as the "Al Capone of new Jersey," and much revered for his love affair with Jean Harlow.Read more

Reviews (20)

Knowledgeable
I bought the first edition of this book when it first came out, and found it to be both knowledgeable and unbiased. There is no romanticizing of the mob, simply straightforward descriptions of the major players and events. Highly recommended.

Eye-grabbing Photos
Interesting read for the first Mafia encyclopedia. Very well-illustrated & detailed research.

They don't come better than this...
An excellent resource for those fascinated by the murky, violent world of American organised crime is Carl Sifakis' Mafia Encyclopedia. The new edition is well-updated (though John Gotti is now dead, and Vinnie the Chin was recently jailed). Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Criminal Law - General    3. Criminals    4. Dictionaries    5. Law    6. Mafia    7. Organized Crime    8. True Crime / Espionage    9. Reference works    10. True crime    11. USA   

Subjects:  1. Crime    2. Criminal Law    3. Criminal justice, Administrati    4. Criminal justice, Administration of    5. Criminology    6. Criminology (General)    7. Dictionaries    8. Encyclopedias    9. Reference