This list has been prepared by the faculty in an effort to identify a few well-written, accessible books that provide a useful window on law and lawyers. It includes many different kinds of books. We suggest that you browse through a few -- in a bookstore, library, or online -- and then choose any one or more that appeal to you.
- Floyd Abrams, Speaking Freely: Trials of the First Amendment, KF 226 .A27 2005
- Akhil R. Amar, The Law of the Land: A Grand Tour of Our Constitutional Republic. KF 4530 .A43 2015
- Paul Barrett, et al., A Year in the Life of the Supreme Court, KF 8742 .Y43 1995
- Ron Chernow, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, CT 275 R75 C47 1998
- Robert M. Cover, Justice Accused: Antislavery and the Judicial Process, KF 4545 .S5 C66
- Vine Deloria, Jr. and Clifford M. Lytle, The Nations Within: The Past and Future of American Indian Sovereignty, E 98 T77 D44 1998
- Melvin A. Eisenberg, The Nature of the Common Law, KF 380 .E34 1988
- Richard A. Epstein, Simple Rules for a Complex World, KF 385 .E67 1995
- Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, KF 352 .F7 1985
- Lawrence M. Friedman, American Law: An Introduction, KF 387 .F74 1984
- Alexander Hamilton, et al., The Federalist Papers, JF 155 .M33 1987
- Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, KF 228 .A7 H37 1996
- Mona Harrington, Women Lawyers: Rewriting the Rules, KF 299 .W6 H36 1994
- Richard Kluger, Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality, KF 4155. K55 1977
- Anthony T. Kronman, The Lost Lawyer: Failing Ideals of the Legal Profession, KF 300 .K76 1993
- Edward Lazarus, Closed Chambers: The Rise, Fall, and Future of the Modern Supreme Court, KF 8742 .L394 1999
- Edward H. Levi, Introduction to Legal Reasoning, KF 425 .L48 1949
- Anthony Lewis, Gideon's Trumpet, KF 228 .G53 L49 1989
- Anthony Lewis, Make No Law: The Sullivan Case and the First Amendment, KF 1266 .L48 1991
- Karl N. Llewellyn, The Bramble Bush: On Our Law and Its Study, KF 273 .L55 1960
- Gerald P. López, Rebellious Lawyering: One Chicano's Vision of Progressive Law Practice, KF 390.5 .P78 1992
- John T. Noonan, Jr., Narrowing the Nation's Power: The Supreme Court Sides With the States, KF 1322 .N66 2002
- Richard Polenberg, Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, The Supreme Court, and Free Speech, KF 224 .A34 P65 '99
- Richard Posner, The Problems of Jurisprudence, K 230 .P665 P76 1990
- William H. Rehnquist, The Supreme Court, KF 8742 .R47 2002
- Gerald N. Rosenberg, The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring About Social Change? , KF 8700 .R66 1993
- Bernard Schwartz, A History of the Supreme Court, KF 8742 .S39 1993
- Bernard Schwartz, Decision: How the Supreme Court Decides Cases, KF 8742 .S323 1996
- William Shawcross, Deliver Us from Evil: Peacekeepers, Warlords, and a World of Endless Conflict, D 860 .S48 '01
- James F. Simon, The Center Holds: The Power Struggle Inside the Rehnquist
Court , KF 8742 .S55 1995 - J. Clay Smith, Rebels in Law: Voices in History of Black Women Lawyers, KF 299 .A35 R43 1998
- Gerald M. Stern, The Buffalo Creek Disaster: How the Survivors of One of the Worst Disasters in Coal-Mining History Brought Suit Against the Coal Company and Won, KF 228 .P75 S7 1977
- Geoffrey R. Stone, Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from The Sedition Act of 1798 to The War on Terrorism, JC 591 .S76 2004
- Irving Stone, Clarence Darrow for the Defense, PN 1997 .C52 1988
- Cass R. Sunstein, Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict, K 213 .S86 1996
- James B. White, Legal Imagination: Studies in the Nature of Legal Thought and Expression, KF 250 .W452 1973
- Robert Woodward & Scott Armstrong, The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court, KF 8742 .W66
- The Constitution of the United States, Y 1.1/7:106-214
- Albert W. Aschuler, Law Without Values: The Life, Work, and Legacy of Justice Holmes, KF 8745 .H6 A66 2000
- Leonard Baker, John Marshall: A Life in Law, KF 8745 .M377 B34 1974
- Jack Bass, Unlikely Heroes, KF 8752 5th .B3 1981
- Jack Bass, Taming the Storm: The Life and Times of Judge Frank M. Johnson and the South's Fight Over Civil Rights, KF 373 .J55 B37 1993
- Kim Isaac Eisler, A Justice for All: William J. Brennan, Jr., and the Decisions That Transformed America, KF 8745 .B68 E37 1993
- Linda Greenhouse, Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun's Supreme Court Journey, KF8745.B555 G74 2005
- Gerald Gunther, Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge, KF 373 .H29 G76 1994
- Laura Kalman, Abe Fortas, KF 8745 .F65 K35 1990
- Andrew L. Kaufman, Cardozo, KF 8745 .C3 K38 1998
- Alpheus Thomas Mason, Brandeis: A Free Man's Life, KF 8745 .B67 M37
- Richard A. Posner, Cardozo: A Study in Reputation, KF 8745 .C3 P64 1990
- Bernard Schwartz, Super Chief: Earl Warren and His Supreme Court, KF 8745 .W3 S37 1983
- Mark V. Tushnet, Making Civil Rights Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1936-1961, KF 4755 .T87 1994
- Mark V. Tushnet, Making Constitutional Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1961-1991, KF 8745 .M34 T87 1997
- G. Edward White, Earl Warren: A Public Life, KF 8745 .W3 W45 1982
- G. Edward White, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: Law and the Inner Self, KF 8745 .H6 W47 1993
- Benjamin Cardozo, The Nature of the Judicial Process, KF 5130 .C37 1921
- Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia, JC 571 .N68 1974
- Robert Nozick, Philosophical Explanation, B 53 .N6 1981
- John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, JC 578 .R38 1999
- Russell Banks, The Sweet Hereafter, PS 3552 .A49 S94 1992
- Charles Dickens, Bleak House, PR 4556 .A1 1991
- George Eliot, Middlemarch, PR 4662 .A2 A83 1994
- John Grisham, The Chamber, PS 3557 .R5355 C47 1995
- John Grisham, The Street Lawyer, PS 3557 .R5355 S7 1998
- Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, PS 3562 .E353 T6 1999
- Franz Kafka, The Trial, PT 2621 .A26 P713 1992
- John Mortimer's Rumpole series, perhaps beginning with Rumpole and the Younger Generation, PR 6025 .O7552 F5 1983
- Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Murder, PS 3570 .R339 A83 1983
- Scott Turow, Presumed Innocent, PS 3570 .U574 P7 1988
- Scott Turow, Burden of Proof, PS 3570 .U754 B87 1991t.
- Lani
Guiner , et al., Become Gentlemen: Women, Law School, and Institutional Change, KF287 .G85 1997 - John J. Osborn, Jr., Paper Chase, PS 3565 .S38 P37 2003
- Helene Shapo & Marshall Shapo, Law School Without Fear: Strategies for Success (2d ed. 2002), KF 386 .S44 2002
- Scott Turow, One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School, KF 373 .T88 A33 1997
- Ruggero J. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers (3d ed. 1997), K 213 .A42 1991 pt.1-4
- Steven J. Burton, An Introduction to Law and Legal Reasoning, KF 8775 .B88 1995
- Leif Carter, Reason in Law, KF 380 .C325
- Tom Goldstein & Jethro K. Lieberman, The Lawyer's Guide to Writing Well, KF 250 .G65 2002
- Kent Greenwalt, Legislation: Statutory Interpretation: 20 Questions, KF 425 .G74 1999
- Abner J. Mikva, An Introduction to Statutory Interpretation and the Legislative Process, KF 425 .M55 1997
- Peter N. Simon, The Anatomy of a Lawsuit, KF 8915 .S55 1984
- William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White, The Elements of Style (4th ed. 2000), PE 1408 .S92 1979
- Richard C. Wydick, Plain English for Lawyers (4th ed. 1994), KF 250 .W9 1998
