From Blog to Book: Saddam on Trial

I have received a complimentary copy of Saddam on Trial: Understanding and Debating the Iraqi High Tribunal. It was written by Prof. Michael Scharf and Prof. Greg McNeal of Case Western Reserve University School of Law, along with other contributors. A press release about the book is here. (Not that it’s relevant, but I went to Case for undergraduate.)

    

This is probably the very first time that a compilation of essays from a legal academic blog has been turned into a book. The essays first appeared at Grotian Moment: The Saddam Hussein Trial Blog, and have been edited and updated for the print publication.

    

It is very refreshing to see the contents of an academic blog being turned into (and thus recognized as) a scholarly publication. Of course I would argue that the Grotian Moment blog was a scholarly publication to begin with, contra this professor. Hopefully Saddam on Trial will become the first “blog-to-book” initiative among many in the 21st century legal academy. Readers who are interested in the Saddam trial can order the book here. 

   

Update: Originally I said that this was probably the first time essays from “an academic blog” had been turned into a book. I changed it to “a legal academic blog” because I was informed of at least one earlier example: the linguists at Language Log have turned many of their blog posts into a book entitled Far From the Madding Gerund. The book is advertised on the right margin of their blog. If readers know of any other examples of academic blogs becoming books, please let us know in the comments.