With the publication of the wonderful review symposium on Lloyd Burton's Worship and Wilderness, Martha Umphrey completes her responsibilities as editor of the review essay section of Law & Society Review. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for her excellent work. The series of essays published under her guidance have contributed to our intellectual community in important ways.
Professor Elizabeth Heger Boyle is the new review section editor. Through 2006, she will continue the practice of recent years of publishing review essays. However, beginning with books published in 2005, the Law & Society Review will return to shorter reviews of single books rather than longer review essays. This change from essays to shorter reviews will take effect with Volume 41 (2007). There may be an occasional review essay on a compelling topic, but most of what will be published in the review section, up to 10 book reviews per issue, will be in the shorter format.
Since 1964, when the Law & Society Association was formed, interest in sociolegal studies has continued to grow. Every year, more books appear with the elements necessary to make an important contribution to the field of sociolegal studies—a commitment to speak across disciplines, to fuse theoretical ideas and empirical analysis, and to have a positive impact on law and public policy. Shorter, single-book reviews will expand the number of books that we can evaluate through our unique law and society lens.
As a result of this transition, the Law & Society Review will need to maintain a list of individuals who are willing to review new books in the field. If you are willing to be contacted about reviewing books from time to time, please send your interest areas and contact information to Professor Boyle at boyle@socsci.umn.edu.
In my introduction to the first issue of this year's volume, I listed the articles that were at that time forthcoming in future issues. Since then, the following additional articles have been accepted and will appear in 2006:
Kitty Calavita, “Collisions at the Intersection of Race, Class, and Gender: Enforcing the Chinese Exclusion Laws”
Ronit Dinovitzer, “Social Capital and Constraints on Legal Careers”
Orit Kamir, “Honor and Dignity in the Film Unforgiven: Implications for Sociolegal Theory”
Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovich and John Hagan, “The Politics of Punishment and the Siege of Sarajevo: Toward a Conflict Theory of Perceived International (In)Justice”
Stefanie Lindquist and David Klein, “The Influence of Jurisprudential Considerations on Supreme Court Decisionmaking: A Study of Conflict Cases”
George Lovell, “Justice Excused: The Deployment of Legal Claims in Everyday Political Encounters”
Ethan Michelson, “The Power of a Powerless Profession: How and Why Chinese Lawyers Screen Cases”
Fernanda Pirie, “Legal Autonomy as Political Engagement: The Ladakhi Village in the Wider World”
Boaventura de Sousa Santos, “The Heterogeneous State and Legal Pluralism in Mozambique”
Michael Sauder and Ryon Lancaster, “Do Rankings Matter? The Effects of U.S. News & World Report Rankings on the Admissions Process of Law Schools”
Federico Varese, “How Mafias Migrate: The Case of the ‘Ndrangheta in Italy”
