Mythologies of State and Monopoly Power (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781583677421)

An analysis of the mythologies that influence the American legal system

"Mythologies," writes veteran human rights lawyer Michael Tigar, "are structures of words and images that portray people, institutions, and events in ways that mask an underlying reality." For instance, the "Justice Department" appears, by its very nature and practice, to appropriate "justice" as the exclusive property of the federal government. In his brilliantly acerbic collection of essays, Tigar reveals, deconstructs, and eviscerates mythologies surrounding the U.S. criminal justice system, racism, free expression, workers' rights, and international human rights.

Lawyers confront mythologies in the context of their profession. But the struggle for human liberation makes mythology-busting the business of all of us. The rights we have learned to demand are not only trivialized in our current system of social relations; they are, in fact, antithetical to that system. With wit and eloquence, Michael Tigar draws on legal cases, philosophy, literature, and fifty-years' experience as an attorney, activist, and teacher to bust the mythologies and to argue for real change.

Author: Michael Tigar
ISBN-10: 1583677429
ISBN-13: 9781583677421
Publisher: Monthly Review Press
Language: English
Published: 10/08/2018
Pages: 160
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.30lbs
Size: 7.40h x 5.10w x 0.40d