Kens (political science and history, Texas State U.-San Marcos) recounts the history of the Supreme Court under Morrison R. Waite from 1874 to 1888, a period of racial violence and sectional strife after the Civil War, Western expansion, and commercial revolution that produced new corporate businesses and dissatisfaction among agrarian and labor interests. He challenges the conventional idea that the Waite court was transitional, provides biographical sketches of the justices who served with Waite, and describes landmark events relating to civil rights including the treatment of blacks and women; conflicts with Mormons over polygamy and religious freedom; the mistreatment of Chinese immigrants in the West; conflict over the distribution of public domain lands in the West; the building and financing of the transcontinental railroad, the Panic of 1873, the first nationwide labor strike, and the Granger movement. Other decisions relate to government regulation of businesses and the constitutional status of corporations, bankruptcy, criminal law, interstate commerce, and bonds. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)