Richard A. Posner is a judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and a senior lecturer in law at the University of Chicago Law School. His many books on the application of economics to law include Economic Analysis of Law, now in its fifth edition.
Oliver Wendell Holmes is a major figure not only in American law but also in American letters. Edited by noted judge and legal scholar, Posner, this excellent one-volume anthology offers a mixture of Holmes's letters, speeches, and judicial opinions. Posner's introductory essay provides a fine framework for understanding Holmes's varied attitudes and multiple approaches to judicial issues. Posner sees Holmes's distinctive contribution as a ``writer-philosopher'' who placed literary/rhetorical skills and philosophical insight into legal work, and Holmes's correspondences with major late 19th-and early 20th-century personalities reveals that era's intellectual ferment. Posner's skillful analysis of Holmes's work is a worthwhile contribution to current American political/legal discussions.-- Steven Puro, St. Louis Univ.
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