Join us for the Austin launch of The Just and the Good: How Law Made the Western World, as William Magnuson traces two thousand years of Western law to shed light on what the law is and what it can be.

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About the Event

First Light Books is proud to host the launch celebration for The Just and the Good: How Law Made the Western World by William Magnuson. Magnuson will be in conversation with William Forbath, the Lloyd M. Bentsen Chair in Law at the University of Texas School of Law. Doors open at 6:00 PM, with the conversation beginning at 6:30 PM.

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About the Book

"We humans make our laws, and then our laws make us, William Magnuson explains—informatively, insightfully, elegantly. One of the best books on the history of law I've read in years." —H.W. Brands, author of The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin

As debates rage over the rights and duties of citizens, corporations, presidents, and nations, fundamental questions about the rule of law have taken on renewed urgency. Why is the law worthy of our respect, and what role should it play in shaping a free society? The Just and the Good by William Magnuson traces two thousand years of Western law in order to shed light on what the law is and what it can be.

In this book, Magnuson examines ten foundational laws and legal institutions that transformed the course of Western history, from the courts of ancient Athens and the legal codes of Rome to the Magna Carta, the U.S. Constitution, and the American civil rights movement. He explores how law has influenced human behavior, structured political life, and both reflected and shaped ideas about freedom, equality, and justice. Through vivid storytelling and careful historical analysis, Magnuson examines both the achievements and failures of legal systems, arguing that law is not merely a product of society but a force that influences how people live, govern, and understand justice.

Lively and thoroughly researched, The Just and the Good examines the legal ideas and institutions that underpin modern democracy, constitutional government, and individual rights within the Western tradition. Ultimately, this book shows that law is a bet that we can solve our problems together and build a society that is just and good. That by setting wise rules and constraints, we can make ourselves better, freer, more virtuous human beings.

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About the Author

William J. Magnuson is a professor at Texas A&M Law School. He was formerly a journalist with the Washington Post and the Associated Press. He is the author of For Profit: A History of Corporations and Blockchain Democracy: Technology, Law, and the Rule of the Crowd.

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About the Conversation Partner

William Forbath is among the nation's leading legal and constitutional historians; he is the author of "Law and the Shaping of the American Labor Movement" (1991), " Social and Economic Rights in the American Grain" (2009), "The Great Society and the Constitution of Opportunity" (2015, with Joseph Fishkin), "The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution" (2014, with Joseph Fishkin), and about one hundred articles, book chapters, and essays on legal and constitutional history and theory. His scholarly work has appeared in Yale Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review, Law and Social Inquiry, and the Journal of American History; his journalism at Politico.com and in American Prospect and the Nation. He is on the Editorial Boards of Law & History, Law & Social Inquiry: Journal of the American Bar Foundation, and other journals, and on the Board of Directors of the American Society for Legal History, Texas Low-Income Housing Information Services, and other public interest organizations.

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