Skip to content
Scan a barcode
Scan
Added to your cart
Paperback Legally Speaking: Contemporary American Culture and the Law Book

ISBN: 1558492089

ISBN13: 9781558492080

Legally Speaking: Contemporary American Culture and the Law

Since the founding of the republic, the law has come to make itself felt at every level of American society. Indeed, as Helle Porsdam argues, in a country with no monarchy or hereditary aristocracy and no established church, the law has become America's "civil religion," helping to form a collective national identity. According to Porsdam, what is distinctive about the role of law in the United States is not simply the prevalence of legal language and practice in everyday life, nor the fact that people go to court more often on more matters than do citizens of other countries. It is that Americans appeal to the law with a singular faith and hope deeply rooted in the culture. For all their complaints about excessive ligitiousness, greedy lawyers, and the shortcomings of the adversarial system, when conflicts occur, it is to jurists rather than to politicians or the clergy that Americans turn in their search for solutions. To demonstrate how thoroughly the ideal of law permeates American life, Porsdam looks at a wide variety of cultural evidence, from the novels of Scott Turow and Sara Paretsky to the television show "The People's Court." In each case she unveils and explores telling links between culture, self, and society--all forged by the law.

Recommended

Format: Paperback

Condition: Acceptable

$9.09
Save $15.86!
List Price $24.95
Almost Gone, Only 1 Left!

Customer Reviews

1 customer rating | 1 review

Rated 4 stars
A persuasive case

In this book, Ms Porsdam attempts a difficult task: writing about aspects of the law in united states culture without being tiresome, overly technical, or shallow. She discusses the role (and rule) of law in the following areas: united states exceptionalism, literary works (Tom Wolfe, William Gaddis, Scott Turow, Margaret Atwood, Sara Paretsky), television drama and televised courtroom proceedings, and race and feminist issues.For...

0Report

Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
GoDaddy Verified and Secured