It is a daunting assignment to review a book after it hasgarnered a major award bestowed by the organization thatpublishes this journal. Judith Baer's Our Lives before the Lawnot only is a very worthy recipient of the 2000 VictoriaSchuck Award for the best book on women in politics but alsois an erudite and wide-ranging critique of feminist thoughtwith the goal of "forc[ing] feminists to confront mainstreamdiscourse and mainstream discourse to confront feminism"(p. 175). This goal is in the service of Baer's desire toconstruct a new jurisprudence of sexual equality, one thatavoids the pitfalls Baer perceives as inherent in the efforts ofothers to date.