The Transformation of American Law, 1870-1960: The Crisis of Legal Orthodoxy

This is the only one of the two volumes that I read, so I can't vouch for the other. But this volume is epic. Horowitz does a wonderful job of bringing together the social, intellectual, and political undercurrents that drove the formation and transformation of American law through the late 19th and 20th centuries. I read this book between my second and third years of law school, and I found that it provided something that is missing from the standard law curriculum: a historic arc. What I learned from Horowitz helped me to illuminate all the subjects I approached in my third year. It helped me to understand where many legal concepts came from, to see the theoretical and historic arc along which they traveled, and to better understand the basis and bias of contemporary legal discourse. Horowitz puts across with clarity and coherence the origins of today's legal debates. I strongly recommend his book to anyone that is hoping for a more full understanding of the modern legal landscape.

This book is a masterpiece of modern legal history, effectively covering the fall of classicism and the rise and decline of progressivism in legal thought. This second in his series on the American Law is much less controversial than the first, and lends much to the in-depth scrutiny of the individuals behind progressivism in the period surrounding World Wars I and II. This is a must read for any law student with an interest in the foundations of what they learn every day.