Others say...

"Glannon for enhancing studying"
Any time I'm studying a subject that has a lot of meticulous ins and outs I turn to Glannon's Examples and Explanations to make certain I understand the subtleties of the subject.

I was glad to have Glannon for Criminal Law, we'll see if it helped to push my essay to the top of the grade pile.

"Comprehensive and Well Organized"
Good book - I use this series to make my outlines, as they are usually more compreshensive with black-letter law than the texts. This one in particular is so much better than the actual text book we used. Buy this if you want to get a good crim law grade.

"Lacking in Some Key Areas"
This is not a bad book for what it purports to be: a companion volume to a criminal law course. If you're consulting it for quick explanations of things you've covered elsewhere and just need some clarification on, it does the job (though, to be fair, this is true of any of dozens of similar books, all available on Amazon).

That said, Crim. isn't the most complicated subject you'll face in law school (it's probably one of the easiest during the first year). If you're seeking out study aids, you're probably making up for a shoddy professor or cramming for an exam. This book isn't much good in either instance.

This book is unlike other volumes from the E&E series that I've used (and found very helpful) in that it really fails to stand on its own. Explanations are very often weak (and too many require you to go searching through chapters a hundred pages back). Tables that attempt to provide handy comparisons of MPC and common law provisions are slapped together and hard to follow (when you've done the studying and know what they're trying to convey, it's particularly striking how badly they fail at it. It's like borrowing notes from a classmate and trying to make sense of their personal shorthand). While the book does a nice job of referencing case law (which may or may not be in your particular casebook) it's less consistent on MPC sections-- explanations are to be accepted without a point of reference, leaving exam takers vulnerable to professors who will (as law professors ALWAYS do) twist the facts beyond the obvious application of the rule.


"Somewhat helpful"
The upside of this E&E book is the writing. The authors of this book have quite a wicked sense of humor and it definitely shows in the practice example questions. The explanations, on the other hand, were limited in scope since the distinctions between common law jurisdictions and the MPC were not layed out completely. Probably the least helpful of the E&E series.

"Almost Useless"
Unlike most other Examples & Explanations Series, this one is one of the worst I have read. Authors waste too much time on history of criminal law and MPC, and very little time explaining the law. Common law and MPC are not distinguished and characterized well, and no clear conclusions of law are given. The example are very plane, without exploring the variety and complexity of real-life problems. Unbelievably, only 35 pages are spent on homicide, the most common and complex problem in criminal law, and the examples and explanations for homicide are terrible.