Book excerpt: The ability to adapt to the continual changes necessitated by American freedoms has been one of the hallmarks of law and its practice in American society. Kauffman and Collier, law librarians and professors at Yale University Law School, take readers through the decisions and events that have collectively formed the American legal system. Accompanying this informative text are photographs, paintings, and cartoons that speak to the uniqueness and importance of the American justice system, and highlight its path of continual progress as new issues arise that at once require historical perspective and modern thinking.