I am a newcomer to this subject and found Prof. Friedman's book informative and approachable. Prior to this, I found reading about law pretty dry and boring compared to science (my usual preference), but this book managed to hold my interest from beginning to end. Taking a historical approach, Prof. Friedman shows how the law reflected changing social conditions and priorities as America evolved from a primitive, farming-based colony to a thriving industrial state. Overall this is a readable and interesting introduction to this important subject.

I am a lawyer working in Australia. I am planning to do more law study in the US later this year, and read this book on the recommendation of a professor. While a section of the book after the introduction is a little straight-forward and essentially like revision for someone familiar with the common law, the book then moves into a very accessible and engaging introduction to some major ideas, landmarks and (more or less) large-scale developments in American law. As such, it was a very useful guide to a lawyer with no real knowledge of American legal history. A nice, quick introduction which would enable the reader to delve deeper subsequently in some of the issues the book discusses.

It is remarkable that Friedman can cover so much in such a short book, and he does it with great clarity. Moreover he excels in helping the reader feel connected to the material, making it seem more relevant and interesting. I've wanted to read the thicker Friedman book: A History of American Law, for years now, but have never gotten around to it. This much shorter book is something that can be read and easily digested in just a few days, and it has given me the increased motivation I've needed to commit to diving into Friedman's fatter history of law, as well as his similarly portly history of 20th century American law. This small volume is highly recommended as an introduction to a very engaging writer who has an admirable and extensive talent for clearly explaining the workings of our legal system and its history.

A brilliant survey of American legal history. Be advised that this edition seems to be an abridged version of two greater Lawrence Friedman works, A History of American Law and American Law in the 20th Century and if you're at all intrigued with this kind of work, or if this edition intrigues you, I do highly recommend those volumes.

This particular work is the kind of book you might want to send to family members curious about why you're going/have gone to law school, particularly as Mr. Friedman's prose is clear and quite readable, and won't intimidate people who are new to the law. A good sampler indeed.

A brilliant survey of American legal history. Be advised that this edition seems to be an abridged version of two greater Lawrence Friedman works, A History of American Law and American Law in the 20th Century and if you're at all intrigued with this kind of work, or if this edition intrigues you, I do highly recommend those volumes.

This particular work is the kind of book you might want to send to family members curious about why you're going/have gone to law school, particularly as Mr. Friedman's prose is clear and quite readable, and won't intimidate people who are new to the law. A good sampler indeed.

This pocket book by Lawrence Friedman is a beautifully crafted short history of American Law and the politics behind. It is neither a reference book nor an introduction to U.S. legal history, but a discourse (or journey) on the evolution of law in America. It is very evocative and generates a craving for more (for that there is a nice commented bibliography). Friedman finds space to comment the system ("In a common law system, the judges who write the opinions are crucial and important figures. To be more precise, the law gets made by appellate judges"), its procedures (The overwhelming majority of cases are never appealed to a higher court indeed, the overwhelming majority of controversies never get to the courts at all") and its inhabitants ("Americans, it is said, are more rights conscious than most citizens of other countries; more prone to sue for damages"). If those appears personal views, instead they are thoroughly thought, but supporting evidence should be found elsewhere. While this book is less than 200 pages, the number of issues dealt in the book is impressive, from slavery to punishment, from privacy to how insurance companies and other businesses have waged a campaign against excessive tort liability (famous fabricated horror stories: the psychic who got a million dollars for losing her psychic power; the woman who got millions for spilling hot coffee on herself ; the burglar who was hurt while burglarizing somebody's house, and sued the owners). A highly recommended book for all.

This pocket book by Lawrence Friedman is a beautifully crafted short history of American Law and the politics behind. It is neither a reference book nor an introduction to U.S. legal history, but a discourse (or journey) on the evolution of law in America. It is very evocative and generates a craving for more (for that there is a nice commented bibliography). Friedman finds space to comment the system ("In a common law system, the judges who write the opinions are crucial and important figures. To be more precise, the law gets made by appellate judges"), its procedures (The overwhelming majority of cases are never appealed to a higher court indeed, the overwhelming majority of controversies never get to the courts at all") and its inhabitants ("Americans, it is said, are more rights conscious than most citizens of other countries; more prone to sue for damages"). If those appears personal views, instead they are thoroughly thought, but supporting evidence should be found elsewhere. While this book is less than 200 pages, the number of issues dealt in the book is impressive, from slavery to punishment, from privacy to how insurance companies and other businesses have waged a campaign against excessive tort liability (famous fabricated horror stories: the psychic who got a million dollars for losing her psychic power; the woman who got millions for spilling hot coffee on herself ; the burglar who was hurt while burglarizing somebody's house, and sued the owners). A highly recommended book for all.

This is the perfect introduction to law, its history and current issues. Great stepping stone when wanting to move onto other books like Peter Iron's People's History of the Supreme Court. You can read this book in a day, and its arranged so it is like a reference.

This book started out promisingly, and the first part of it is an interesting introduction to American law. Unfortunately, the last half of the book is almost exclusively about politics and administration. He spends whole sections on things like New Deal agencies and Great Society programs. Certainly, these were "laws" passed by Congress, but they don't tell us anything about the justice system. If you want to learn about the American legal system, I'd suggest Law 101 instead. It's not historically based, but you'll learn a lot more about how the system functions, and the principles on which it is based, than from this book.

This is an excellent basic book on the evolution of our legal system for over 300 years. The sections of the book describing the colonial period were outstanding. The book shows how our legal system was derived from the English Common Law and how it differs from the legal systems in many parts of Europe. It details the evolution of the legal system from England to our American colonies even showing how the system evolved differently in each colony.

This book provides a very basic overview of the U.S. legal system. It is short, and a quick read without any jargon or difficult concepts.

This book would be ideal for a person who is not from the US, but who wants to know about how our justice system works and why it works that way. Much of it is a bit too basic for most US citizens who had Civics in high school and who watches Law and Order obsessively. I did learn a few things, though, so anyone who is interested in the US legal system (which, as anyone who watches Law and Order knows, can sometimes be quite complicated) might want to take a look if they want some of the more obscure rules and customs explained.

This is a really good, easy to read book about the history of law in the US, from its origin to its interpretation to its practice.

As is mentioned in the book, politics and law are necessarily (and rightly) intertwined. Maybe all the left-leaning comments that some other reviewers mention went over my head (or maybe I just agreed with them), but I found this book to be a great explanation of how the system that guides our lives as American citizens was developed, and how it works today.

As I mentioned before, it is surprisingly easy to read, and a little fun as well. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about how the world we live in really works.

As I read through this pithy summary of American law, I was continually impressed by how rarely I disagreed with this obviously-liberal author's interpretations. Only when he suggested that the jury is still out on whether welfare reform has worked did I wonder what planet he's from.

What I found most intriguing was his suggestion that law is a (sometimes lagging) representation of the views of those with influence in society. For me, an "original intent" guy regarding Constitutional law, that was an interesting new thought.

Despite its title, this is a very interesting book, and a short easy read.

Although I mostly enjoyed this work, I have three main problems with it:

1) It is too basic -- while it gave glimpses of the philosophical state of US law, it never felt like it fully plunged into a discussion of it. Instead, there is a never ending litany of facts, cases, and historical cirumstances. With so slender a volume, you can either take a fact based approach or a "what does it all mean" interpretative approach. This is fact based. This would be a great book for a high school junior, but anyone who reads the paper would be familiar with most of the contents.

2)Too isolated -- the US has a very unique legal system. I have some sense why this is so from the first chapter here. Yet, I was hoping for more international comparisons on just how different and unique the US really is.

3)Liberal smarmyness -- here I'll simply quote "A child is kidnapped, raped, murdered -- and the angry grief of millions turns into some draconian new law which responds psychologically (if not logically) to the publics demands ... "Megan's Law" insists that sex offenders register and be made known to neighbors, if necessary. It is a kind of leper's bell around the neck of men once convicted of sex crimes."

I have rarely encountered such a smarmy and elite liberal tone. A case is not made for the point of view. Your agreement is simply assumed. Why, of course, such a "draconian" act must be simply psychological cotten candy given out to an uninformed child like public.

A 12 year old here in Boston was murdered last weekend by one of your "leper's" ... . Unfortunately, the state didn't enforce the law and the "bell" wasn't rung. Maybe her fate would have been different. But, from your tone, I suppose this simply indicates my emotionalism and lack of informed understanding.

It is the first book I read about law. I borrowed this book from library just want to know a little about law. But it turns out that I really like it and I decided to buy it. I think it make me think a lot about the law itself and the culture of the law and make the law. The only shortcoming is I think it could better if it explains a little more context for each important case. That can help me understand the issue and the background.