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A Necessary Evil

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Oh for heaven's sake! Let's not get carried away. The Bluebook is a useful guide to the complexities of legal citation ONLY because ... get this ... the Bluebook CREATED those complexities in the first place! (What do you expect when you let a bunch of Harvard *students* write the rules?) That's right -- the rules are the rules ONLY because the Bluebook says that's how it should be done, and the entire legal profession has foolishly signed on. The ALWD manual -- a guide produced by practicing lawyers who teach writing -- is MUCH better than the Bluebook in many ways, but no actually uses it outside academia. Until ALWD is the standard in legal practice, you'll need the Bluebook if you plan to be a lawyer.

Bilgerunner is correct!

Customer Rating:
Bilgerunner is correct! We should neither overlook the religious, nor the astronomical implications of The Bluebook, "Oh for heaven's sake!"; the complexities of its tautologies "because ... get this ... the Bluebook CREATED those complexities in the first place!"; its promotion of elitism and class-warfare "What do you expect when you let a bunch of Harvard *students* write the rules?"; its acknowledgement of the metaphysical group-think of a closed society, "the entire legal profession has foolishly signed on"; and, as previously stated, its ultimate tragedy, "Until ALWD is the standard in legal practice, you'll need the Bluebook if you plan to be a lawyer." Nothing, NOTHING, compares to the sweep; the scope; the onomatopoetic characterizations; the vivid text-painting; the dramatic tension and resolution; the historical perspective; the skillful use of regional dialects; the frank and earthy, yet futuristic, dialogue; the compassion and depth of human emotion; the dialectical materialism--in short, and as Governor Palin would say, the simple gosh-darn transcendence--of The Bluebook!

A best seller!

Customer Rating:
Forget the New York Times bestseller list! Out of the anals of human history comes a book so compelling, so emotional, so all encompassing, that it defies description. On a level with "Great Expectations," mere words cannot describe its insightful witticisms ("Go forth and construe")("To interplead is human, to demur...devine"), its quaint conundrums ("To quash or not to quash, that is the interlocutory question"), its prophetic wisdom ("a footnote, in the right format, is worth a thousand words"), and yet its ultimate tragedy ("As you shall sow, so shall you replevin"). No true literary scholar should be without their own copy. Why wait for law school when you can own your copy today!

A truly evocative and powerful effort

Customer Rating:
Let's be honest. A lot of people felt that Bluebook had fallen off. After that award show confrontation with ALWD and the concealed weapons charges, Bluebook looked like they were on the ropes. That only makes this 18th edition more triumphant for the Bluebook. A stunning return to the form that made them such an irresistible bunch of ragamuffins to begin with, Bluebook has a sure answer to the naysayers who thought they couldn't adapt to the electronic movement--a blistering tribute to Internet citation.

For anyone interested in their new "harder" sound, the blue practitioner pages don't disappoint. Meanwhile the smooth, sculptural rhythms of "cases in textual sentences" will leave a smile on your face.

Overall, the soothing melodies of this consistently powerful album are ideal for any mood, whether it be insomnia or deadline adrenaline rushes. And let's be honest, it's the Bluebook. You're going to buy it. As another reviewer observed: buy it, don't download it off the internet! The artists really deserve our support.

Essential Reference

Customer Rating:
Mom & Dad, buy this book and a Black's Law Dictionary for your law student- to-be. If you buy anything when you go to law school, buy this. Current attorneys should own a copy; paralegals need to memorize it. I would never put pen to paper and write anything without this book by my side. It is a complete and easy to use reference guide. A time and grade saver for law students accross the nation.