American Law in the Twentieth Century Lawrence M. Friedman

This book, a prize-winning history of American law in the twentieth century, is a successor to Lawrence Friedman's landmark work A History of American Law. It chronicles the explosion of law over the past century into almost every aspect of American life and the extent to which social transformation has contributed to significant shifts within the legal system.

Lawrence M. Friedman is Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law at Stanford University. His previous books include A History of American Law and Crime and Punishment in American History, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in history.

"A readable and sophisticated account of what happened at the interface between American law and American society over the past century... A useful guide to the social and political processes shaping American law." Charles Lane, Washington Post Book World; "This enlightening guide to America's modern legal history... is stunning and definitive. Each of Friedman's chapters is jampacked with information and perspective." Edward Lazarus, Los Angeles Times Book Review; "This brilliant account is at once accessible to the layperson and indispensable to the specialist. A masterpiece." Choice; "Captures brilliantly the broad social sweep of legal change during the twentieth century... Masterful." Cornell W. Clayton, American Historical Review"