Reviews for Act of Justice: Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the Law of War

The average rating for Act of Justice: Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the Law of War based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-03-27 00:00:00 Dmitri Slavin This is the book that made me become a lawyer! No seriously...I read it during a class on Abraham Lincoln, and wrote a book review on it (Dr. Riley always had her students do book reviews...I'm convinced that she used them to decide what books to read). The logic and progression that I now recognize as the hallmarks of good legal writing really appealed to me, so I ended up going to law school. It's a surprisingly interesting read, too. First, did the laws of war apply to the Civil War? Yes, despite Lincoln wishing they didn't. If Lincoln had his way, he would have accorded zero recognition to the Confederacy, but that just wasn't feasible...he ended up having to accord them the rights of belligerents, though he never had to recognize them as independent. Second, what did the laws of war permit with regard to the emancipation of slaves? Quite a bit, as it turns out. I won't go into details (that's the heart of the book, after all).

Review # 2 was written on 2013-11-19 00:00:00 Michael Holman This is the follow-up volume to Fogel and Engerman's "Time on the Cross", which performs an economic analysis of the institution of American slavery. It is brilliant and challenging work, which earned Fogel a Nobel prize in economics. Fogel passed away yesterday and I realized that I hadn't added this book. This is amazing research and Fogel will be missed.