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First, Camille Walsh, Assistant Professor at the University of Washington - Bothell, ably assisted us in developing this booklist. We can safely say that the best selections on this list are hers. If you are reading any of the books on this list and say to yourself "WOW!!" please thank Camille because she probably picked it.
Second, we have not included any books by Lawrence M. Friedman and Morton J. Horowitz. Yes, this is a travesty of epic proportions. They are not on our list because they show up on every single legal history booklist. Their books are the <i>Citizen Kanes </i> of legal history: they are important and worth reading, but there is a good chance you already know about them. Several of Friedman's legal history books are classics (<i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300102992/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0300102992&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=e8b3fb860e99441331f22755e0fe3b31 American Law in the Twentieth Century]</i>, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684869888/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0684869888&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=1ac7fe483d6f4563061d3b87ff5ffcc7 A History of American Law]</i>, and <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465014879/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0465014879&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=b3f0dd3252700148b4442dc13644caca Crime and Punishment in American History]</i>). Friedman is incredibly prolific, and he has also published another twenty books on law and legal history. In fact, there is a very good chance that he wrote and published another book while you were reading this paragraph. On the other hand, Morton J. Horowitz wrote the important and controversial two volume series <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674903714/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0674903714&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=e4e385ae4cf2c241d33e7be5c6a6a1fc The Transformation of American Law, 1780-1860]</i> and [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195092597/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0195092597&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=888d81f9e2abec4092c295bc7b328200 1870-1960]. Both of these books are recognized classics. The first book in the series was published in 1977 and won the Bancroft Prize. Both of the books are essential, but you probably already knew that.
Third, these books are in no particularly order. We do not think that number 1 is any better than number 10.
#Barbara Young Welke, ''[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521649668/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0521649668&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=IDHSLAZ5CLD5S2CR Recasting American Liberty: Gender, Race, Law, and the Railroad Revolution, 1865-1920]'' (Cambridge University Press, 2001)
