Introduction to Critical Legal Theory

The blurb describes this as "an accessible introduction to the study of law and legal theory", but it really isn't. As an introduction to the study of law, it would be entirely useless, as it covers none of the basics that would usually be expected of such an introduction (e.g. how the legal system works, how to read and research case law, etc.) For this purpose, Glanville Williams' classic is still a much better choice. As an introduction to legal theory, it fails the accessibility test on a number of counts. The language suggests an assumed reader who is already an accomplished legal academic, and I suspect the content would be impossible to understand for anyone without a solid grounding in Western philosophy. I have studied show more philosophy at university level and still found it too difficult to be of much benefit; in the areas I felt most qualified to judge (medieval philosophy and Kantianism), it skated over key concepts and was downright misleading at times, possibly due to insufficient familiarity with the source language of some of the texts discussed. It seemed better on deconstructionism, but I am less qualified to judge this. I will keep it on hand for reference, but it is not a book to attempt to read straight through. show less