Vagrant Nation

In Vagrant Nation, Risa Goluboff has found a way to explain how the interaction between 1960s social movements and the courts fundamentally changed both American law and society writ large. By look at the changing views regarding a minor type of crime-vagrancy-Goluboff shows how the courts were cast directly into the midst of the turmoil sweeping the nation.

Risa Goluboff is the Dean of the University of Virginia School of Law and the Arnold H. Leon Professor of Law Professor of History. She is also the author of The Lost Promise of Civil Rights.

- Introduction - 1. From the Soapbox to the Courthouse - 2. The Vagrancy Law Education of Ernest Besig - 3. "Shuffling" Sam Thompson and the Liberty End Cafe - 4. "For Integration? You're a Vagrant" - 5. "Morals Are Flexible from One Generation . . . to Another" - 6. "The Most Significant Criminal Case of the Year" - 7. Hippies, Hippie Lawyers, and the Challenge of Nonconformity - 8. The Beginning of the End of Vagrancy Laws - 9. "Vagrancy Is No Crime" - Conclusion - Notes - Acknowledgments - Index