America's Constitution A Biography

In this comprehensive, incisive, and entertaining "biography" of one of the world's great political texts, eminent constitutional-law scholar Akhil Reed Amar explains not only what the Constitution says but also why the Constitution says it. Skillfully placing the document in the context of late-eighteenth-century American politics, Amar reveals how a document that was in large part drafted by slaveholding landed gentry could later be instrumental in the emancipation of slaves, the enfranchisement of women, and many other modern expansions of liberty and equality. Amar celebrates the Constitution's remarkable durability, noting how debate over its central role in American government remains vital and dynamic more than two centuries after it was written. Ambitious, evenhanded, accessible, and often surprising, America's Constitution is an indispensable work, bound to become a standard reference for any student of history and all citizens of the United States. Book jacket.

Akhil Reed Amar graduated from Yale College and Yale Law School, and has been a member of the Yale Law School faculty since 1985. He is the author of The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction and has written widely on constitutional issues for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. He lives in Woodbridge, Connecticut, with his wife and three children.


From the Hardcover edition.