Muller V. Oregon: A Brief History with Documents

Nancy Woloch has written, as the title suggest, brief history of Muller v. Oregon. The book is broken up into two halves. The first half deals with the history of Muller and the second half gives primary documents related to Muller and the time period. Woloch lays out a very logical argument and looks at the constitutional issues with Muller and the importance of the "Brandeis Brief" and how the brief was successful over time became less by the time the Court heard Adkins v. Children's Hospital. Woloch also looks at the reactions and results of the Muller decision and the cause and effect with cases that came after Muller. The addition of documents, which make up the second half of the book; the documents help to give greater insight to the history and understanding of not only Muller but of the Court and ideas during the early part of the 20th Century. I would suggest this book to anyone who has to do research or is interesting in learning about women's history. This book has been extremely helpful in the writing of my maters thesis. The book is easy to read and Woloch makes clear points and is pretty even handed. I did not overly notice a bias one way or the other. There is a wealth of information in the book, yet it is not overwhelming but makes the reader engage with the book and read more. Check it out if you want to gain a brawer understanding of the Lochner Era. If you like this book then check out Paul Kens book Lochner v. New York: Economic Regulation on Trial Though that's just my two cents.