The two books are Blocking the Courthouse Door by Stephanie Mencimer, and The SFWA European Hall of Fame, edited by James and Katherine Morrow.
Blocking the Courthouse Door is a solid book; if you’re interested in the civil court system at all, you’ll learn something new in this book. The book is strongest when it’s talking about cases and industry organizations. While its critiques of the Republican machine and its adoption of tort reform are solid, the obvious stridency can get in the way of the well illustrated assault on non-corporation suits.
The tort reform movement achieved great success, despite the cure [damage caps] not matching their own prescription of the problem [excessive frivolous lawsuits]. The damage done as a side effect of their quest has been huge. One of the most illuminating issues was the latitude state supreme courts have… and how easily (and cheaply) a few campaigns can completely change the character of the court. I was also unaware that trial determined damages could be so easily and arbitrarily reduced… even though it happened recently with the Stacy Johnson Klein trial. Talk about Judicial arrogance…
If you’re interested in adding another necessary cause to the platter, read this book. The history of why Class Action Lawsuits exist, how they’re encouraged, and why is excellent. We made a bargain to protect people without creating a huge bureaucracy to investigate everything thoroughly. Business has abrogated its half of the deal.
The recurrence of “huge damage awards trumpeted, reduced soon after to little notice” is sobering and was very useful in rebalancing my view of jury awards. (The chapter on “judicial gatekeepers” for science is scary, given the biases some of the justices exhibited.)
The second book is The SFWA European Hall of Fame, a collection of great short stories. Over half of them were great, new, and different to me. The stories varied greatly, but I agree that they’re all “big tent SF” at the least. If you want to read a collection of interesting stories with a very different background, read this!