Description
Book SynopsisIn the American imagination ""the West"" denotes a border - between civilization and wilderness, past and future, native and newcomer - and its lawlessness is legendary. In fact, there was an abundance of law in the West, as in all borderland regions of vying and overlapping claims, jurisdictions, and domains. It is this legal borderland that
Beyond the Borders of the Law explores.
Trade ReviewThis rich and eclectic collection of writings by scholars of Native American, African American, Chicana/o, and Latina/o history as well as border and legal studies represents the death knell to the archetype of the ‘wild west.’ Rather than the North American West being a lawless region,
Beyond the Borders of the Law demonstrates the varied origins, uses, and interpretations of the law in there and the ways in which even the most disenfranchised peoples used the legal system to advocate for their rights and personal freedoms. Focusing on themes of race and gender, property and citizenship, and justice and reform, the volume delves deeply and widely into the law’s influence in the borderlands across space, place, and time."" - Miroslava Chávez-García, author of
Migrant Longing: Letter Writing across the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands""Western legal history is relatively new, and this creative collection of essays defines the field. Within the broad topic of legal borderlands, ten authors offer their engaging ideas about race and gender, property and citizenship, and justice and reform of the law in the American West. This book is most worthy of being described as ‘cutting edge."" - John R. Wunder, author of
“Retained by The People”: A History of American Indians and the Bill of Rights
