Shai Lavi Win's 2006 ASA Soc of Law Book Prize

JSP Alum, Shai Lavi, now a member of the faculty at Tel Avi University's Buchmann School of Law, has won the 2006 Distinguished Book Award of the American Sociological Association's, Section on the Sociology of Law for his book, The Modern Art of Dying: The History of Euthanasia in the United States (Princeton University Press, 2005), a revision of his JSP dissertation.

A renowned Berkeley sociologist has said this of Lavi's book:

"Shai Lavi has enormously deepened the current argument over euthanasia by putting it in a perspective that has seldom entered the discussion, namely, its history. The genealogy of the idea and practices that have turned the art of dying into the technique of dying does not solve the current debate, but it does allow us to see it not just as an argument between ethicists, but as one about the cultural meaning of death. This book is essential for anyone who is concerned about euthanasia and has the potential of changing the very terms of the discussion."--Robert N. Bellah, University of California, Berkeley, coauthor of Habits of the Heart and The Good Society.