Public Law

The United States has the world’s highest rate of incarceration, a form of punishment that ruins lives and makes a return to prison more likely. With the authority of a prominent legal scholar and the practical insights gained through on-the-ground work on criminal-justice reform, Rachel Barkow explains how dangerous it is to base criminal-justice policy on the whims of the electorate, which puts judges, sheriffs, and politicians in office.

Repeal the Second Amendment explores both the true history and current interpretation of the Second Amendment to expose the NRA’s blatant historical manipulations and irresponsible fake news releases. Lichtman looks at the history of firearms and gun regulations from colonial times to the present to explain how a historically forgotten sentence in the Constitution has become a flash point of recent politics that benefits only the gun industry, their lobbyists, and the politicians on their payroll.

Charisma is something that a lot of people don't think about, yet we see it everywhere and often admire it. But how do you gain charisma and more importantly, how do you apply it in your daily life? In Charisma: The Best Tactics to Be More Charismatic, Likable, and to Impress Anyone, you will learn how. Charisma is not about being the loudest or more flamboyant in the room. There is more to it than that. Those that have charisma have more influence, tend to get the better jobs and have better relationships.

For well over a century, public schools have been a non-partisan gathering place and vital center of civic life in America—but something has changed. In School Moms, journalist Laura Pappano explores the on-the-ground story of how public schools across the country have become ground zero in a cultural and political war as the far-right have made efforts to seek power over school boards.

When twenty-six-year-old recent college graduate Aswad Thomas was days away from starting a professional basketball career in 2009, he was shot twice while buying juice at a convenience store. The trauma left him in excruciating pain, with mounting medical debt, and struggling to cope with deep anxiety and fear. That was the same year the national incarceration rate peaked.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been a political football for years now, but as its provisions start going into effect, there’s still precious little information available on how it will impact you, your family, and your pocketbook. This 2,572 page document, nearly unreadable, will change your health care, your family budget, and innumerable aspects of your life.

What precisely is affirmative action, and why is it fiercely championed by some and just as fiercely denounced by others? Does it signify a boon or a stigma? Or is it simply reverse discrimination? What are its benefits and costs to American society? What are the exact indicia determining who should or should not be accorded affirmative action? When should affirmative action end, if it must? Randall Kennedy gives us a concise and deeply personal overview of the policy, refusing to shy away from the myriad complexities of an issue that continues to bedevil American race relations.

In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson distilled a leading idea in the early American republic and wrote of a wall of separation between church and state. That metaphor has come down from Jefferson to 21st-century Americans through a long history of jurisprudence, political contestation, and cultural influence. This book traces the development of the concept of separation of church and state and the Supreme Court's application of it in the law.

Expert speaking coach Ian Nichol writes a thorough and authoritative guide to public speaking. Written in an engaging and informative style, with a great undercurrent of humour, Stand and Deliver! makes for a relaxing and highly enjoyable listen, which reinforces Ian’s no-nonsense message on how listeners can dramatically improve their speaking performances. Ian’s unfailing honesty when setting out his personal experiences of triumph and disaster will inspire listeners, teaching them that what works for one person may not work for another.