This is an original book.It searches for the soul of European employment law.this is an excellent book, recommended reading for those who want to reflect upon the meaning, the significance and the relevance of European Labour Law after 50 years and beyond.Roger BlanpainInternational Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial RelationsVol. 20; No. 3; 2004This is a meticulous historical account of EU employment law. Kenner's chronological approach is not replicated in other standard texts on EU social policy and is ultimately one which proves rewarding insofar as it sets various initiatives in context. Through this tour of the different stages of EU constitutional development, he demonstrates the ways in which social, economic and employment imperatives have interacted.

In doing so, he provides us with the means to understand present policy and current proposals for reform.Tonia NovitzMaastricht Journal of European and Comparative LawMarch 2004Jeff Kenner's book, a successful combination of the analytical and explanatory attitude of a manual and the reconstructive approach of a theoretical inquiry, offers a complete and thorough synopsis of the long and complex historical experience of Community employment law from its origins to date.Stefano GiubboniYearbook of European LawMay 2004The work is rich both in legal analysis and in the kind of institutional detail that is necessary in order to understand the background to the development of the law. The reader will find here detailed doctrinal explanations of the various Treaty provisions, directives and court decisions that have shaped the law at various points, alongside accounts of the coalition-building and tactical manoeuvring that lay behind the key legislative developments. The book,can be read as a legal treatise, but it differs from most other works on EU employment law by attempting to place the law's evolution in the context of a wider political and institutional process of policy formation. It thereby makes an innovative and important contribution to the field of European legal studies.Simon DeakinIndustrial Relations JournalDecember 2004.