Milestones! : 200 years of American law : milestones in our legal history /

Bicentennial scholarship by majority rule: American Bar Association members, invited to vote for their favorite tunes in the legal history jukebox, have come up with the all-time top 18 hits. Lieberman was handed 14 Supreme Court decisions (up-to-date with U.S.v. Nixon), two Chief Justices--Marshall and Warren--with their revolutionary Courts, one Constitutional amendment (the 14th), and one Congressional outburst-the Social Security Act. Thus lumbered with a dubious ""milestone"" premise and a pre-ordained table of contents, he gallantly toils at connecting the chronological dots (even when two of them are 68 years apart) with bits of biography, history-a lively preface covers the common law ground rules--and trend-spotting. The cases themselves receive thorough run-throughs, unavoidable complexities methodically tackled, personalities sketched in for added texture, and the layman audience handled with kid gloves but without condescension. Un-fortunately, Lieberman's workmanlike efforts alone can't justify this project's existence, and his erratic attempts at enlivening (""Now the fat was in the fire"") signal an uneasiness with his no-man's-land assignment; neither a sage's precision nor a humanist's fresh perspective is called for. While the inevitable preoccupation with Supreme Court opinions may trigger associations with the likes of Fred Graham's The Self-Inflicted Wound, Milestones! more closely resembles--physically, especially--a high school or college textbook. Dreadful line drawings (why a pen-and-ink Brandeis or Hugo Black when haunting photos are available?) with bubble-gum-card captions (""John Marshall. Giant in American legal history"") abet a ponderous graphic design; the pages will scream ""dull"" at hapless browsers. Decent reference perhaps, possible pre-law self-testing grounds, but no Bicentennial fireworks. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.