The winter of 1975-76 saw the appearance of a spate of new and exciting law-related books. Fresh and disturbing ideas found their way into print with pleasing frequency. Of even greater import, these books displayed surprising readability for lawyers and laypeople alike.

The best of these books share a common thread, even if they are not crafted of the same fabric. By and large they seek to reinterpret some aspect of popular legal history. In Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, Susan Brownmiller painstakingly collected, sifted, and synthesized the many fragments of the history of rape from ancient times to the present in order to present her own original ideas on the proper analysis of rape in contemporary society. Jerold Auerbach took on the ABA, the legal profession in general, and whatever hallowed myths got in his way, in his book Unequal Justice. His and Brownmiller’s conclusions are unsettling and intriguing, and both books hailthe inauguration of new debates, rather than present the final ideological word on their respective subjects.

John Noonan’s ambitions in Persons and Masks of the Law seem to be less expansive. His attentions are more narrowly focused, and his criticisms less tightly woven. Like Brownmiller and Auerbach, he seeks to reinterpret significant segments of legal history. Unlike them, his method is one of embellishment and explanation, rather than one of winnowing and sifting.

Doing Justice, by Andrew von Hirsch, will never enjoy the broad readership of the above-mentioned three, as it is too clearly the product of a committee. This is unfortunate, as it has much to say. Von Hirsch takes on the rehabilitative ideal, the prominent rationale for our system of incarceration, in a way not unlike Auerbach’s challenge of the ABA. Again, it is not a final word–but it is a useful beginning.

All four of these authors urge their readers to re-examine their assumptions concerning various legal topics: society’s response to the problem of rape, the inequitable delivery of adequate legal services, the pervasive and unquestioned use of legal precedent, and the utility of incarceration. The value of these books lies in their ability to challenge their readers to look at things in a different way. This is seldom a bad thing to do. Not only is this what the free interchange of ideas is all about, but it is also the first step to a deeper understanding of topics which ought to concern us all.