Yale Law Library - News and Events
November 2010 - Posts
Book Talk: The Two Faces of American Freedom: Aziz Rana in conversation with Bruce Ackerman
The Two Faces of American Freedom
Aziz Rana in conversation with Bruce Ackerman
Co-sponsored by the Lillian Goldman Yale Law Librarys
Wednesday, December 8, 2010 * 6:00 pm
Labyrinth Books
290 York St., New Haven, CT
The Two Faces of American Freedom boldly reinterprets the American experience from the colonial period to modern times, placing issues of race relations, immigration, and presidential power in the context of shifting notions of empire and citizenship. In the tradition of synthetic works that combine law, history, and political theory, the book challenges prevailing interpretations of U.S. founding, constitutional development, and liberal identity. It does so by focusing on how the country was first and foremost an experiment in “settler empire.”
Today, while the U.S. enjoys tremendous military and economic authority, citizens are increasingly insulated from everyday decision-making. This was not always the case. America, Rana argues, began as a settler society grounded in an ideal of freedom as the exercise of continuous self-rule — one that joined direct political participation with economic independence. However, this vision of freedom was politically bound to territorial conquest and to the subordination of marginalized groups. While presentations of the American Revolution as a radical event often highlight its egalitarian aspects, Rana maintains that the Revolution was just as much about defining the future of imperial colonization. He also re-conceives American immigration history, illustrating how the 19th century’s de facto open borders were tied fundamentally to an ethnically exclusive and republican vision of expansion. In essence, historic practices of internal liberty and external power were not separate currents, but rather two sides of the same coin.
Nonetheless, at crucial moments, reformers and social movements sought to imagine freedom without either subordination or empire. By the mid-twentieth century, these efforts failed, resulting in the rise of hierarchical state and corporate institutions. This new framework presented national and economic security as society’s guiding commitments and nurtured a continual extension of America’s global reach. The book ultimately envisions a democratic society that revives settler ideals, but combines them with meaningful inclusion for those currently at the margins of American life.
Book Talk: a discussion of two new powerfully sweeping books by Professor Douglass Kysar and Professor Robert Verchick
Douglas Kysar and Robert Verchick
Vision, Values and Environmental Law
Thursday, December 2, at 6 p.m.
Room 120, Yale Law School
127 Wall St., New Haven, CT
The Lillian Goldman Law Library invites you to a discussion of two new powerfully sweeping books by Professor Douglass Kysar and Professor Robert Verchick.
In Regulating from Nowhere: Environmental Law and the Search for Objectivity Professor Kysar examines a wide array of sources to propose a new theoretical basis for understanding environmental law and policy. He concludes by advocating a movement toward environmental constitutionalism in which allowing life to flourish is always considered a priority.
In Facing Catastrophe: Environmental Action for a Post-Katrina World Professor Verchick draws on the experience of post-Katrina New Orleans to sound a wake-up call for environmental action and argue that government must assume a stronger regulatory role in to limit and manage the consequences of future natural disasters.
Douglas Kysar is the Joseph M. Field ’55 Professor of Law at Yale Law School, where his teaching and research areas include torts, environmental law, and risk regulation.
Robert Verchick is the Gauthier-St. Martin Eminent Scholar and Chair in Environmental at Loyola University Law School, in New Orleans.
Book Talk: Winner Take All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class by Professor Jacob Hacker, with commentary by Professor Robert Shiller
Jacob Hacker
Winner Take All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class
Wednesday, December 1, at 5 p.m.
Labyrinth Books
290 York St., New Haven, CT
The Lillian Goldman Law Library invites you to a discussion of an important book by Professor Jacob Hacker, with commentary by Professor Robert Shiller.
Winner Take All Politics is a ground-breaking work demonstrating how the U.S. political system was hijacked by the super-rich over a series of both Democratic and Republican led administrations and showing a path for taking it back. The authors are lauded for their insights in featured reviews ranging from the New York Times* to Mother Jones, and famed consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren calls this book must reading. Learn more from the author with commentary provided by Professor Robert Shiller at the upcoming book discussion being held at Labyrinth Books and sponsored by the Lillian Goldman Law Library.
Jacob Hacker is the Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science and Adjunct Professor of Law, Yale University.
Robert Shiller is the Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics at Yale University.
Haiti: the Impact of the Haitian Earthquake on its Libraries: A Report from the Ground
Professor Patrick Weil
Maurice R. Greenberg Visiting Professor of Law, Yale Law School
President, Libraries without Borders
Haiti: the Impact of the Haitian Earthquake on its Libraries: A Report from the Ground
Thursday, December 2, 2010
3:00 p.m.
Sterling Memorial Library
Lecture Hall
120 High Street
New Haven, Connecticut
It’s been nearly a year since a catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti, indiscriminately destroying lives and cultural institutions, including its libraries. Libraries Without Borders already was working to assist in the development of Haitian libraries prior to the earthquake and was among the first responders to this crisis. Most of the public libraries buildings and/or collections have been seriously affected by the earthquake. The cultural and educational structures in the capital have largely been destroyed.
Libraries Without Borders with the support of many partners, is leading an international effort to save and rebuild the collections and to develop new libraries.
Learn more about the state of recovery and what still needs to be done from the President of Libraries Without Borders, Patrick Weil, Visiting Professor of Law, at Yale Law School.
Patrick Weil is Visiting Professor of Law and Robina Foundation International Fellow at Yale Law School and a senior research fellow at the French National Research Center in the University of Paris, Pantheon-Sorbonne.
Thanksgiving Library Hours & Services
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DAY
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HOURS
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Wednesday
Nov 24th
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Library
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8:00 am – 10:00 pm
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Circulation Desk
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10:00 am – 5:00 pm
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Reference Desk
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9:00 am – 1:00 pm
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Thursday
Nov 25th
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CLOSED
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CLOSED
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Friday
Nov 26th
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Library
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8:30 am – 6:00 pm
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NO Circulation or Reference Services
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Saturday
Nov 27th
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Library
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10:00 am – 10:00 pm
Regular Hours
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Circulation Desk
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10:00 am – 5:00 pm
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Reference Desk
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No Service
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Sunday
Nov 28th
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Library
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10:00 am – 12:00 am
Regular Hours
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Circulation Desk
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10:00 am – 8:00 pm
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Reference Desk
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12:00 – 8:00 pm
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Tale of 3 Books
The Acquisitions & Continuing Resources Department obtains library materials from worldwide sources - from Bemidji to Beijing, from New Haven to New Delhi, from Saint Louis to Saint Petersburg. MORRIS, our on-line library system, currently tracks 996 vendors – and we are adding new business partners every year.
Book sellers, print and electronic serial subscription agents, rare book specialists, and film sources have all played a role in the growth of our collections. In a way, every item's journey to us tells a story.
These days, acquisitions information is viewable in MORRIS. But long before on-line library systems, records of titles added through purchase or gift were kept through diary entries.
From January 21, 1948
Dr. Ernst Sauer, Nordrhein-Westfalen, British Zone, GERMANY sent us the two books listed below and asked that in return we send him soap and fat. Two cans of Crisco and six bars of soap were sent him with instructions that they be given to “Care” if they could not be delivered to him.
Kipp – Mensch, recht und staat
Sauer – Grundlehre des völkerrechts
In May 1948 we were notified by Yale Station that Dr. Sauer had not been located so we authorized the Post Office in Germany to turn the box over to CARE.
On June 8, 1948 we received a postal from Dr. Sauer notifying us that he had received the package and was sending us another book since the value of the gift was greater than the value of the books he sent.
Turegg – Deutschland und das völkerrect, 1948
We do not know the name of the law library staff person who recorded the acquisition details of these three German monograph titles – but we are thankful for the historical look back.
-- Jo-Anne Giammattei
Book Talk: How to Be French: Nationality in the Making Since 1789 by Professor Patrick Weil, with commentary by Professor Timothy Snyder
Patrick Weil
How to Be French: Nationality in the Making Since 1789
Tuesday, November 16, at 6:15 p.m.
Labyrinth Books
290 York St., New Haven, CT
The Lillian Goldman Law Library invites
you to a discussion of an important book by Professor Patrick Weil, with
commentary by Professor Timothy Snyder.
How To Be French is an award winning book in which Patrick Weil employs
comparative techniques to dissect the history of French nationality laws from
1789 to the present. Originally published in France, in 2002, this
masterful English language translation offers important lessons for discussing
contemporary issues of nationality in France and other western nations,
including the U.S. Learn more from the author and commentary provided by
Professor Timothy Snyder at the upcoming book discussion being held at
Labyrinth Books and sponsored by the Lillian Goldman Law Library.
Patrick Weil is Visiting Professor of Law and Robina
Foundation International Fellow at Yale Law School and a senior research fellow
at the French National Research Center in the University of Paris,
Pantheon-Sorbonne.
Timothy Snyder is a Professor of History at Yale and an
expert in modern East European political history.
New Law Library Acquisitions for October 2010
The Law Library's list of new acquisitions for October 2010 are now
available:
Or, as always, you can visit the library's new acquisitions web page:
http://www.law.yale.edu/library/acquisitions.asp.
Brief Formatting Workshop for First-Year Students
Due to popular demand, the library will be offering three more sessions of the brief-formatting workshop for first-year students this Wednesday, November 3rd. This program will give students the tools to properly format briefs in Microsoft Word, including how to create a table of contents and a table of authorities. Students will also learn how to find applicable briefs and other court documents to aid in research. To register for a workshop, please go here.
If you have any questions, please contact Camilla Tubbs.
