'Tis the season for jolly Volokh Conspiracy holiday gifts!

It is now the holiday season! And if you are looking for possible gifts for regular Volokh Conspiracy readers in your life, what could better than books by VC bloggers? Among my favorite books by VC authors are Randy Barnett's Restoring the Lost Constitution , David Bernstein's Rehabilitating Lochner, Dale Carpenter, Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas, and Eugene Volokh, Academic Legal Writing.

Randy's book is one of the best recent works on originalism and constitutional legitimacy; Rehabilitating Lochner explodes numerous myths about one of the Court's most reviled decisions; Flagrant Conduct is a great account of a milestone in the history of gay rights; and Academic Legal Writing is filled with useful advice, while also making a generally boring subject seem interesting. This list is not intended to slight important books by Ken Anderson, Orin Kerr, David Kopel, David Post, and others. I have not discussed them only because their subjects are further from my areas of expertise than the above.

In the spirit of shameless self-promotion, I will also mention my own Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter, and A Conspiracy Against Obamacare: The Volokh Conspiracy and the Health Care Case (coauthored with VC-ers Randy Barnett, Jonathan Adler, David Bernstein, Orin Kerr, and David Kopel). Democracy and Political Ignorance explains why widespread political ignorance is a serious problem for democracy, and strengthens the case for limiting and decentralizing government power, and for judicial review. Conspiracy Against Obamacare focuses on the VC's significant role in the Obamacare litigation, and is the only book that includes contributions by six different VC bloggers.

And coming soon, there is The Grasping Hand: Kelo v. City of New London and the Limits of Eminent Domain. This will be the first book about one of the Supreme Court's most controversial decisions written by a legal scholar.