Covering four thousand years of courtroom history, this fascinating work journeys from the Egyptian Hall of the Dead to twenty-first century Hollywood as accusers and accused face each other in front of judges or juries. The ways that organized society deals with law breaking raise profound questions: Who has the right to judge and why? What have civilizations hoped to achi eve through scapegoats and sacrifices? Are defendants still bearing the sins of society at large? Serious analysis of the criminal trial told with verve and wit.

Who owns your ideas? In this Knowledge Economy, there are four basic types of intellectual property protections: copyrights, trademarks, patents and trade secrets. Tracing the roots of conflicts over intellectual property and the establishment of protections, Choate also examines the emergence of Germany, Japan and China as rivals to American business. Intellectual property theft and the government’s indifference to it are wrecking the U.S. economy according to the author, who was Ross Perot’s 1996 running mate.

A seasoned reporter casts his sharp eye on the Cook County Criminal Court and reveals the ongoing human drama of Chicago cops, robbers, lawyers, judges and others who come together in a one courtroom in a one year. Tragic stories become mundane to the people who work at the courthouse; Bogira illuminates the fundamental issues of race, civil rights and justice with riveting accounts of each case.

An antidote to the “Sunday school morality” that all religion deserves constitutional protection. Hamilton considers children, marriage, land use, schools, prisons and the military and discrimination to find that religion is not always benign and that those who are harmed should have recourse to the protection of law. The history of legal action that has subjected religious entities to the law is included to show the way to insure the public good.

Congress has the sole authority to declare war, which was last done on December 8, 1941. Yet, every President from Truman to Bush 43 has used military force in pursuit of imperial objectives with no check from either Congress or the Supreme Court. Irons looks at the stretching, distortion and violation of the Constitution with a growing sense of alarm and the hope that the American people will rally support for a return to the Founding Fathers’ designation of Congress as the sole authority to make war.