Laws Dream of a Common Knowledge is a very good book. It is theoreticallyambitious careful in its use of evidence and persuasive in its claims. Itsucceeds admir... » 

Laws Dream of a Common Knowledge is a very good book. It is theoreticallyambitious careful in its use of evidence and persuasive in its claims. Itsucceeds admirably in contributing to both the sociology of legal knowledge andthe study of deviance and its regulation. Moreover it discusses some of themost interesting and controversial areas of legal regulation. Readers will findthemselves moving easily between sophisticated discussions of topics rangingfrom obscenity and sexual preference to pub licensing. Valverde is anoutstanding scholar who writes with great skill and mastery.Austin SaratAmherst College author of When the State KillsValverdes analysis is important and worthy because she deliberately focuseson the nonscientific and often nonexpert decisionmakers who despite theirlack of training or expertise are responsible for the bulk of legal decisionsand thus legal knowledge. Her approach relentlessly empirical and resistantto generalization yields a study that defies easy summary and is bothconceptually and theoretically sophisticated.Patricia Ewick ClarkUniversity «