A detailed analysis of U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding abortion.
Debut author Carmichael (My Absolutely Insane Attempt to Rank All Cinema, 2010), a former attorney, brings his legal background to this thorough examination of Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and other noteworthy Supreme Court decisions that have shaped abortion law in America. He provides a close reading of the justices’ legal reasoning in each decision and also analyzes media coverage, particularly regarding criminal prosecutions of abortion providers and mothers of abandoned fetuses. The book argues that the court has made substantial logical and legal mistakes in its decisions, resulting in an incoherent and potentially dangerous set of laws and regulations. Carmichael’s substantial research is evident in his copious footnotes, and his book pursues complex legal and ethical discussions of life, personhood, and rights. But although it does provide some criticism of the anti-abortion movement’s arguments and tactics, it doesn’t present its own conclusion—that the court erred in asserting a legal right to abortion—in a way that is likely to sway pro–abortion-rights readers. The prose often veers into hyperbole (“Roe has to qualify as the worst centralized planning since Stalin’s five-year-plan”) or sacrifices accuracy to argument (“Of course, all our abortion rules are actually mandated by federal judges, not by our elected representatives”). The book’s understanding of feminist thought can be grating, as well (“Feminism shot at patriarchy and killed our fathers”). However, readers who choose to engage with the book’s arguments will find them easy to follow, even if it isn’t entirely persuasive in its approach. A thoroughly researched but uneven critique of abortion policy.
Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-692-27281-7
Page Count: 366
Publisher: Con Law Books
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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