Annual Tulsa Book Review Symposium

Sandy Levinson

For the last three years, the Tulsa Law Review has published an issue devoted entirely to reviewing recent books.  Mark Graber and I served as organizers--in the future that will be done by Linda McClain and Ken Kersch, both well-known to Balkinization readers--and we immodestly (but I think accurately) believe that it is the leading venue in the country at least with regard to books written by lawyers and political scientists relating to various aspects of constitutionalism, both domestic and comparative.  Indeed, the occasion for initiating the symposium was a screed that I published in the Texas Law Review bewailing the fact that most student-edited law reviews have basically given up reviewing books entirely.  There are a few notable exceptions, most prominently the Michigan Law Review, but even that review, which at one time reviewed more than forty books, is now reviewing far fewer books in its symposium issue.  In any event, you will find below the table of contents for the just-published Tulsa symposiu.  I truly regret that it is not online, but copies of the issue are availablel for sale for $15.  Anyone wishing a copy can contact Diane Hernandez by email at diane-hernandez@utulsa.edu to place an order


UPDATE:  It's been suggested to me that it would be useful to indicate the actual books reviewed.  This list follows:

It was brought to my attention that the table of contents of the Tulsa Law Review special issue of book reviews lacked the essential information of the precise books that were in fact being reviewed. So the list of books reviewed and the reviewers is as follows:



Sanford Levinson, CONSTITUTIONAL FAITH, reviewed by Jack Balkin

G. Edward White, LAW IN AMERICAN HISTORY: FROM THE COLONIAL YEARS THROUGH THE CIVIL WAR, reviewed by Alexander Tsesis

Jack Goldsmith, POWER AND CONSTRAINT: THE ACCOUNTABLE PRESIDENCY AFTER 9/11, reviewed by Mariah Zeisberg

Tom S. Clark, THE LIMITS OF JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE, Matthew E. K. Hall, THE NATURE OF SUPREME COURT POWER, reviewed by Lawrence Baum

Mary Dudziak, WAR TIME: AN IDEA, ITS HISTORY, ITS CONSEQUENCES, reviewed by Stephen M. Griffin

Jack Balkin, CONSTITUTIONAL REDEMPTION POLITICAL FAITH IN AN UNJUST WORLD, Hadley Arkes, CONSTITUTIONAL ILLUSIONS AND ANCHORING TRUTHS: THE TOUCHSTONE OF THE NATURAL LAW, reviewed by Sotirios Barber

Hanna Lerner, MAKING CONSTITUTTIONS IN DEEPLY DIVIDED SOCIETIES, reviewed by Gary Jeffrey Jacobsohn

Robert Post, DEMOCRACY, EXPERTISE, AND ACADEMIC FREEDOM: A FIRST AMENDMENT JURISPRUDENCE FOR THE MODERN STATE, reviewed by Rachel Levinson-Waldman

Assaf Meydahi, THE ISRAELI SUPREME COURT AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS REVOLUTION: COURTS AS AGENDA SETTERS, reviewed by Gila Snyder

Michael A. Bailey & Forrest Maltzman, THE CONSTRAINED COURT: LAW, POLITICS, AND THE DECISIONS JUSTICES MAKE; Stephen M. Egle,, AMERICAN POLITICIANS CONFRONT THE COURT: OPPOSITION POLITICS AND CHANGING RESPONSES TO JUDICIAL POWER; Richard L. Pacelle, Jr., Brett W. Cutty & Bryan W. Marshall, DECISION MAKING BY THE SUPREME COURT, reviewed by Kevin J. McMahon

Dale Carpenter, FLAGRANT CONDUCT: THE STORY OF LAWRENCE V. TEXAS, reviewed by Adam Winkler

Paul W. Kahn, POLITICAL THEOLOGY: FOUR CHAPTERS ON THE CONCEPTION OF SOVEREIGNTY; Paul W. Kahn, SACRED VIOLENCE: TORTURE, TERROR, AND SOVEREIGNTY, reviewed by John Wolfe Ackerman

Serena Mayer, REASONING FROM RACE: FEMINISM, LAW, AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS REVOLUTION, reviewed by Judith A. Baer

Stuart Banner, AMERICAN PROPERTY: A HISTORY OF HOW, WHY, AND WHAT WE OWN, reviewed by Gregory S. Alexander

Jeannie Suk, AT HOME IN THE LAW: HOW THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE REVOLUTION IS TRANSFORMING PRIVACY; Jennifer Nedelsky, LAW’S RELATIONS: A RELATIONAL THEORY OF SELF, AUTONOMY, AND LAW, reviewed by Joanna L. Grossman

Adrian Vermeule, THE SYSTEM OF THE CONSTITUTION; Richard A. Epstein, DESIGN FOR LIBERTY: PRIVATE PROPERTY, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, AND THE RULE OF LAW, reviewed by Jenna Bednar

Michael S. Greve, THE UPSIDE-DOWN CONSTITUTION, reviewed by Roderick M. Hills, Jr.

David Garland, PECULIAR INSTITUTION: AMERICA’S DEATH PENALTY IN AN AGE OF ABOLITION, reviewed by Jordan M. Steiker




Volume 48 Winter 2012 Number 2

Sanford Levinson’s Second Thoughts About Constitution Faith              Jack M. Balkin 169

Law in American History:  From the Colonial Years Through
the Civil War                                                                                      Alexander Tsesis 187

Power and Constraint:  The Accountable Presidency After 9/11            Mariah Zeisberg 195

Probing the Power of the Supreme Court                                            Lawrence Baum 203

What is Wartime?                                                                           Stephen M. Griffin 215

Promises, Axioms, and Constitutional Theory                                 Sotirios A. Barber 223

Revolution or Evolution:The Challenges of
Constitutional Design                                                                Gary Jeffrey Jacobsohn 235

Democracy, Expertise, and Academic Freedom: A First
Amendment Jurisprudence for the Modern State                     Rachel Levinson-Waldman 245

The Israeli Supreme Court — Between Law and Politics                            Gila Stopler 257

The Justices Decide:  Analyzing Attitudes, Politics, and the Law       Kevin J. McMahon 265

Law Enforcement’s Flagrant Conduct                                                    Adam Winkler 275

Why Political Theology Again?                                                  John Wolfe Ackerman 285

When Experience Becomes History: Sexism, Racism,
and the Judicial Mind                                                                            Judith A. Baer 299

Innovating Property                                                                   Gregory S. Alexander 307

Independent Together                                                                 Joanna L. Grossman 313

Constitutional Systems Theory: A Research Agenda Motivated by
Vermeule, The System of the Constitution
and Epstein, Design for Liberty                                                            Jenna Bednar 325

Is the Fostering of Competition the Point of American
Constitutional Federalism?                                                       Roderick M. Hills, Jr. 339

Peculiar Times for a Peculiar Institution Jordan M. Steiker 357


Posted 5:45 PM by Sandy Levinson [link]