In follow-up studies, dozens of reviews, and even a book of essays evaluating his conclusions, Gerald Rosenberg's critics--not to mention his supporters--have spent nearly two decades debating the arguments he first put forward in The Hollow Hope. With this substantially expanded second edition of his landmark work, Rosenberg himself steps back into the fray, responding to criticism and adding chapters on the same-sex marriage battle that ask anew whether courts can spur political and social reform.
Finding that the answer is still a resounding no, Rosenberg reaffirms his powerful...

This book will be useful to scholars, political activists, journalists and others interested in law, politics, and social change. In focusing on the conditions under which judicial decisions intended to help the relatively disadvantaged are implemented, it raises questions about public interest litigation, social movements and law, and judicial activism.