Synopses & Reviews
Queer Representations celebrates the eclectic, diverse nature of gay and lesbian culture and its production.
The volume begins by asking how we can interpret an image--is the image homosexual and if so, how can we understand it? Closely connected to its interpretation is how we visualize homosexuality, or, in Allen Ellenzweig's term, how we picture the homoerotic, the organizing principle of a section devoted to American cinema and performance in general. The crucial role of biography and autobiography is the central preoccupation of the next section, with essays on Radclyffe Hall, Langston Hughes, and Louisa May Alcott.
Featuring many of the most respected figures in queer studies and contemporary queer literature, among them Dorothy Allison, Edmund White, Barbara Smith, Essex Hemphill, Michael Cunningham, Allen Ginsberg, Samuel R. Delany, Dale Peck, Jewelle Gomez, Joan Nestle, a final section explores the creation of queer literature, birthpangs, growing pains, and achievements.
By emphasizing the interconnectedness of gay and lesbian lives and the literature which has been instrumental in defining, reconstructing, and representing these lives, this anthology serves as a diverse introduction to queer culture and literature.
Review
“Susan Carle has done an extraordinary service. Her collection is sophisticated, challenging, and desperately needed. The legal academy is often sadly prone to treat the ethics of lawyering as an afterthought or a necessary nuisance. This smart collection of critical essays gives the subject the serious attention it deserves.”
“Carle has put together an important collection of readings. This book will be a valuable addition to any course on the legal profession.”
“Susan Carle’s book brings together the best writings on the more visionary and justice-seeking goals of the legal profession. Lawyers should serve society, clients at large, as well as clients in need. This book will be assigned reading in courses devoted to lawyering and social justice—it should be required reading for all legal professionals.”
“Lawyers and law students alike will benefit from this volume's strong and persuasive reminder that traditional ‘good'’lawyering and a moral commitment to social justice can walk hand in hand. Teachers who want to remind students of why they came to law school—to leave the world a better place than they found it—will find this book a great asset.”
Review
“Susan Carles book brings together the best writings on the more visionary and justice-seeking goals of the legal profession. Lawyers should serve society, clients at large, as well as clients in need. This book will be assigned reading in courses devoted to lawyering and social justice—it should be required reading for all legal professionals.”
-Carrie Menkel-Meadow,Georgetown University Law Center
Review
“Lawyers and law students alike will benefit from this volume's strong and persuasive reminder that traditional ‘good'lawyering and a moral commitment to social justice can walk hand in hand. Teachers who want to remind students of why they came to law school—to leave the world a better place than they found it—will find this book a great asset.”
-Richard Zitrin,author of Legal Ethics in the Practice of Law
Review
“Susan Carle has done an extraordinary service. Her collection is sophisticated, challenging, and desperately needed. The legal academy is often sadly prone to treat the ethics of lawyering as an afterthought or a necessary nuisance. This smart collection of critical essays gives the subject the serious attention it deserves.”
-Peggy Cooper Davis,New York University School of Law
Review
“Carle has put together an important collection of readings. This book will be a valuable addition to any course on the legal profession.”
-David Wilkins,Harvard Law School
Synopsis
Legal ethics should be far more than a set of rules on professional responsibility; they can serve as a means for changing power relations, empowering the disenfranchised, and advocating progressive social change.
Lawyers Ethics and the Pursuit of Social Justice broadens the discussion on legal ethics by first introducing the historical and theoretical background and then connecting it to real world issues while addressing lawyers' ethical obligations to work for social justice.
The reader features differing critical approaches and opens up new avenues of ethical debate. While the literature included is diverse and interdisciplinary, it shares a vision of legal ethical inquiry as a means for changing power relations, empowering the disenfranchised, and advocating progressive social change. Through a combination of provocative selections, lively writing, concrete examples of cases and social movements, and incisive editorial commentary, Lawyers Ethics and the Pursuit of Social Justice defines the emergence of an exciting new field of critical legal ethics scholarship.
About the Author
Susan D. Carle is professor of law at Washington College of Law, American University in Washington, D.C.