Binder and Weisberg have produced a truly excellent book. If you are interested in the sub-discipline of law and literature (a kind of counterpart to the law and economics movement), this is the best study of the scholarship by far. If offers a well organized introduction to the major methodological approaches, but the book is far from rudimentary, and you will get an incisive, well informed assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of each branch of this discipline.



The book is aimed at academics and advanced students. Binder and Weisberg are especially good at explaining abstruse aspects of literary theory to those trained primarily in the law. At the same time, they escape the trap of some literary scholars who treat the law as nothing more than text, and who tend to neglect the significant differences between law (a social practice) and literature (cultural practices and artifacts that have a different relation to the social).



Among its other strengths, the authors are able to recognize the historical dimensions of law. They are especially good at tracing the central play that slavery and race have played in the history of US law.



Although lucid and well organized, this book isn't a quick read. It is long, thorough, and painstaking--all of which pays off if you find the subject compelling. I read each chapter carefully and closely, and Binder and Weisberg more than repaid the effort.