Review by Choice Review
"Let's begin cheerfully: You've just died." This whimsically provocative opening sentence sets the stage for a conversational and imaginative look at the idea of defamation. Herzog, a political theorist who also teaches constitutional law at the University of Michigan Law School, sets out to challenge the conventional wisdom about defamation and libel: namely, that it requires an assessable injury to a living person's reputation to be legally actionable. In response, the author suggests that genuine reputational damage can be done to a person after death--and that this is distinguishable from a claim recoverable by the decedent's estate--and urges that American law be reformed to recognize such posthumous injury. This unconventional position is advanced via the author's accessible writing style, which draws the reader into what is in fact a complicated argument backed by historical accounts, analysis of court decisions, and disquisitions in modern political theory. In the hands of a less-skilled craftsman, this ambitious intellectual project could have been frustratingly incomprehensible, but in the end the book is clear, lively, and thought provoking. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Steven B. Lichtman, Shippensburg University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
