Review by Choice Review
Zietlow's slim volume is a closely argued text that shines a spotlight on the role courts have played in the protection of "rights of belonging." Zietlow (law, Univ. of Toledo) defines these rights as "the set of entitlements that are necessary to ensure inclusion, participation, and equal membership in our diverse community." Much, although not all of her work, focuses on three time periods: Reconstruction, the New Deal, and the 1960s. Congress, rather than the federal courts (with the exception of the liberal Warren Court), emerges as the champion of important rights in Zietlow's story. This conclusion, as the author notes, flies in the face of much conventional thinking in this area. In this sense, it can be argued, Zietlow's work turns scholarship in this area on its head. This provocative book will prove of interest to a very wide audience. Students of constitutional law, the courts, federalism, public policy, political theory, Congress, and interest groups should find this work especially interesting. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through practitioners. P. Watkins Saint Joseph's College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
