How Star Wars Conquered the Universe
How Star Wars Conquered the Universe

Author: Chris Taylor

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2015-10-06

Total Pages: 490

ISBN-13: 0465097510

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In 1973, a young filmmaker named George Lucas scribbled some notes for a far-fetched space-fantasy epic. Some forty years and 37 billion later, Star Wars -- related products outnumber human beings, a growing stormtrooper army spans the globe, and "Jediism" has become a religion in its own right. Lucas's creation has grown into far more than a cinematic classic; it is, quite simply, one of the most lucrative, influential, and interactive franchises of all time. Yet incredibly, until now the complete history of Star Wars -- its influences and impact, the controversies it has spawned, its financial growth and long-term prospects -- has never been told. In How Star Wars Conquered the Universe, veteran journalist Chris Taylor traces the series from the difficult birth of the original film through its sequels, the franchise's death and rebirth, the prequels, and the preparations for a new trilogy. Providing portraits of the friends, writers, artists, producers, and marketers who labored behind the scenes to turn Lucas's idea into a legend, Taylor also jousts with modern-day Jedi, tinkers with droid builders, and gets inside Boba Fett's helmet, all to find out how Star Wars has attracted and inspired so many fans for so long. Since the first film's release in 1977, Taylor shows, Star Wars has conquered our culture with a sense of lightness and exuberance, while remaining serious enough to influence politics in far-flung countries and spread a spirituality that appeals to religious groups and atheists alike. Controversial digital upgrades and poorly received prequels have actually made the franchise stronger than ever. Now, with a savvy new set of bosses holding the reins and Episode VII on the horizon, it looks like Star Wars is just getting started. An energetic, fast-moving account of this creative and commercial phenomenon, How Star Wars Conquered the Universe explains how a young filmmaker's fragile dream beat out a surprising number of rivals to gain a diehard, multigenerational fan base -- and why it will be galvanizing our imaginations and minting money for generations to come.

Originalism as Faith
Originalism as Faith

Author: Eric J. Segall

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-10-18

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1107188555

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Tracing the development of originalism, Eric J. Segall shows how judges often use the theory to reach politically desirable results.

The Constitution in Jeopardy
The Constitution in Jeopardy

Author: Russ Feingold

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2022-08-30

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 1541701542

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A former U.S. senator joins a legal scholar to examine a hushed effort to radically change our Constitution, offering a warning and a way forward. Over the last two decades, a fringe plan to call a convention under the Constitution's amendment mechanism—the nation's first ever—has inched through statehouses. Delegates, like those in Philadelphia two centuries ago, would exercise nearly unlimited authority to draft changes to our fundamental law, potentially altering anything from voting and free speech rights to regulatory and foreign policy powers. Such a watershed moment would present great danger, and for some, great power. In this important book, Feingold and Prindiville distill extensive legal and historical research and examine the grave risks inherent in this effort. But they also consider the role of constitutional amendment in modern life. Though many focus solely on judicial and electoral avenues for change, such an approach is at odds with a cornerstone ideal of the Founding: that the People make constitutional law, directly. In an era defined by faction and rejection of long-held norms, The Constitution in Jeopardy examines the nature of constitutional change and asks urgent questions about what American democracy is, and should be.

Fictions, Lies, and the Authority of Law
Fictions, Lies, and the Authority of Law

Author: Steven D. Smith

Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess

Published: 2021-09-15

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 0268201196

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Fictions, Lies, and the Authority of Law discusses legal, political, and cultural difficulties that arise from the crisis of authority in the modern world. Is there any connection linking some of the maladies of modern life—“cancel culture,” the climate of mendacity in public and academic life, fierce conflicts over the Constitution, disputes over presidential authority? Fictions, Lies, and the Authority of Law argues that these diverse problems are all a consequence of what Hannah Arendt described as the disappearance of authority in the modern world. In this perceptive study, Steven D. Smith offers a diagnosis explaining how authority today is based in pervasive fictions and how this situation can amount to, as Arendt put it, “the loss of the groundwork of the world.” Fictions, Lies, and the Authority of Law considers a variety of problems posed by the paradoxical ubiquity and absence of authority in the modern world. Some of these problems are jurisprudential or philosophical in character; others are more practical and lawyerly—problems of presidential powers and statutory and constitutional interpretation; still others might be called existential. Smith’s use of fictions as his purchase for thinking about authority has the potential to bring together the descriptive and the normative and to think about authority as a useful hypothesis that helps us to make sense of the empirical world. This strikingly original book shows that theoretical issues of authority have important practical implications for the kinds of everyday issues confronted by judges, lawyers, and other members of society. The book is aimed at scholars and students of law, political science, and philosophy, but many of the topics it addresses will be of interest to politically engaged citizens.

Constitutional Fictions
Constitutional Fictions

Author: David L Faigman

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008-08-18

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 019971231X

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David Faigman's Constitutional Fictions is the first book-length examination of the role of fact-finding in constitutional cases. Because the role of facts is central to the day-to-day realities of constitutional law, Faigman provides an extraordinarily important analysis of a subject that has been largely ignored by constitutional scholars. To show how contemporary facts play into constitutional analysis, Faigman examines some of the most controversial subjects of the late twentieth century, including physician-assisted suicide, abortion, sexual predators, free speech, and privacy. The Constitution is popularly thought of as a static document that embodies fundamental values and foundational principles of governance. However, the values and principles that the Constitution embodies must be applied to the circumstances and challenges of changing times. Constitutional Fictions explains how contemporary facts should be incorporated into constitutional decisions, thus allowing the Constitution to endure for the ages.

Con Law
Con Law

Author: Mark Gimenez

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2013-06-25

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0748117296

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John Bookman - Book to his friends - is a tenured professor at the University of Texas School of Law. He's thirty-five, handsome and unmarried. He teaches Constitutional Law, reduces senators to blithering fools on talk shows, and is often mentioned as a future Supreme Court nominee. But Book is also famous for something more unusual. He likes to take on lost causes and win. Consequently, when he arrives at the law school each Monday morning, hundreds of letters await him, letters from desperate Americans around the country seeking his help. Every now and then, one letter captures his attention and Book feels compelled to act. In the first of a thrilling new series from the author of international bestsellers The Colour of Law and Accused, Book investigates a murder set in the high-stakes world of fracking and corruption in deepest, darkest Texas.

Research Handbook on the Politics of Constitutional Law
Research Handbook on the Politics of Constitutional Law

Author: Mark Tushnet

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2023-11-03

Total Pages: 777

ISBN-13: 1839101644

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This Research Handbook deals with the politics of constitutional law around the world, using both comparative and political analysis, delivering global treatment of the politics of constitutional law across issues, regions and legal systems. Offering an innovative, critical approach to an array of key concepts and topics, this book will be a key resource for legal scholars and political science scholars. Students with interests in law and politics, constitutions, legal theory and public policy will also find this a beneficial companion.

Constitutional Law
Constitutional Law

Author: Erwin Chemerinsky

Publisher: Aspen Publishing

Published: 2023-11-28

Total Pages: 1744

ISBN-13:

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A leading text by a prominent scholar, Constitutional Law is known for its concise, comprehensive, and student-friendly presentation. Professor Chemerinsky's frame of reference coupled with rich background information make the law more readily understood. Influenced by 40+ years of teaching, Constitutional Law is dedicated to students who have consistently expressed a preference for straightforward and accessible content. A flexible organization accommodates a variety of course structures; no chapter assumes that students have read preceding material. A complete Teacher’s Manual and Annual Case Supplement round out this acclaimed text. New to the Seventh Edition: Constitutional law has dramatically changed in the last few years. Changes in the law have required revisions throughout, creating a significantly different book than its predecessors. Since the sixth edition the Supreme Court has Overruled of Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Expanded Second Amendment rights in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen Effectively eliminated affirmative action in Students for Fair Admission v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard University Changed the law concerning the religion clauses of the First Amendment in cases such as Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, Carson v. Makin, and Fulton v. City of Philadelphia In addition to the revisions necessitated by these updates to the law, the book has been carefully and thoroughly edited. A new design has been adopted to make navigating notes and cases more straightforward. The overall approach of the book remains the same providing professors and students with: Focus on three types of material: major cases, heavily edited secondary cases, and essays Essays that provide context with historical background, development of the law in areas cases are not directly presented, and summaries of scholarly debates Straightforward, accessible prose Flexible organization Cases and materials edited to be as ideologically neutral as possible