Laura F. Edwards,A Legal History of the Civil War and Reconstruction: A Nation of Rights

Abstract

Laura F. Edwards, A Legal History of the Civil War and Reconstruction: A Nation of Rights . New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Footnotes, Bibliographic Essay, Bibliography, Index. Pp. xii, 212, 29.99 (pb), ISBN: 9781107401341. Laura F. Edwards, Peabody Professor of History at Duke University, has prepared a thought-provoking assessment of how law affected the Civil War and Reconstruction and the reverse. Professor Edwards, who is not law-trained, has developed a deep appreciation for the way law structures social and economic life in the United States and has become a respected social historian of law. She is not much concerned with the development of legal doctrine, nor legal institutions for their own sake. She is primarily concerned with how law and legal institutions affect people and how people use it for their own ends. Professor Edwards brings this approach to bear in six closely connected essays. Her survey will not replace a more traditional one …