New Book Preview — Part One: Social and Racial Justice
Summer is a particularly exciting time in the life of the law library. During this season, we receive our largest shipments of new books. This post will focus on our newest acquisitions related to social justice and racial justice issues.
While the library doors remain closed to visitors, you can still reserve and pick these up, and any other circulating titles, using our Curbside Service, available every Tuesday and Thursday (11 am — 1 pm). We also post a rotating new book cover fashion show on our library catalog home page at the start of each month. You can place holds on books using your library account, or contact us at 360–357–2136 or library.requests@courts.wa.gov to reserve copies.
“Prisons Make us Safer”: and 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration, by Victoria Law, HV8705 .L38 2021. Author Victoria Law is a freelance journalist who often writes about the intersection of mass incarceration and gender. In Prisons Make Us Safer, Law conducted interviews with and comprehensive research on incarcerated individuals. The book includes four main areas of discussion: the rise of mass incarceration, misconceptions about incarcerated individuals, prison myths, and ideas for ending mass incarceration. Beacon Press describes the book as “[a]n accessible guide for activists, educators, and all who are interested in understanding how the prison system oppresses communities and harms individuals.”
A City Divided: Race, Fear and the Law in Police Confrontations, by David A. Harris, HV8148 .P62 H37 2020. On a January night in 2010, 18-year-old Jordan Miles was walking around the block in his Pittsburgh neighborhood when he was confronted, beaten, and arrested by three officers who jumped from an unmarked patrol car. The officers believed Miles had a gun in his pocket, which turned out to be a bottle of soda. The incident would lead to two federal trials. In A City Divided, law professor David Harris focuses on the Miles case with a thorough examination of implicit bias and police training and practices. An excerpt of the first chapter can be found here.
Confessions of a Free Speech Lawyer: Charlottesville and the Politics of Hate, by Rodney A. Smolla, HN90 .S62 S75 2020. Attorney Rodney Smolla is no stranger to controversial cases. Following the events of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Smolla declined an offer to represent the alt-right groups involved. Cornell University Press says of the book and author, “In the personal and frank Confessions of a Free Speech Lawyer, Rodney A. Smolla offers an insider’s view on the violent confrontations in Charlottesville during the ‘summer of hate.’ Blending memoir, courtroom drama, and a consideration of the unhealed wound of racism in our society, he shines a light on the conflict between the value of free speech and the protection of civil rights.”
Haben: the Deafblind Woman who Conquered Harvard Law, by Haben Girma, KF373 .G567 A3 2019. Described by Oprah Magazine as an “autobiography of a millennial Helen Keller” that teems with grace and grit, Haben chronicles her incredible journey from her childhood in the Eritrean city of Asmara to becoming the first deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School. Now a disability rights lawyer and public speaker, Haben Girma’s book provides the reader with humor and positivity, while taking a very serious look at the issues facing individuals with disabilities. An excerpt from Girma’s book can be found here.
Other new social and racial justice titles recently added to the collection include:
Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism, by Laura E. Gómez, E184 .S75 G63 2020.
America for Americans: a History of Xenophobia in the United States, by Erika Lee, E184 .A1 L4135 2019.
Black and Blue: How African Americans Judge the U.S. Legal System, by James L. Gibson & Michael J. Nelson, KF4755 .G53 2018.
Black Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism, by Charles W. Mills, JC574 .M538 2017.
How Bias Affects Your Interactions With Clients, Witnesses, Jurors and Others, by National Business Institute, Audio/Visual Collection KF310 .B53 H69 2020.
On Account of Race: The Supreme Court, White Supremacy, and the Ravaging of African American Voting Rights, by Lawrence Goldstone, KF4755 .G65 2020.
Privilege and Punishment: How Race and Class Matter in Criminal Court, by Matthew Clair, HV9956 .B6 C535 2020.
Stay tuned for more. We received so many new books this summer, we had to create two different posts! Check back for the second segment of our new book preview for a look at titles related to mental health court, self-help civil legal issues, natural resources, and legal history. (LE)
