Anti-Federalist : An Abridgment of the Complete Anti-Federalist

Herbert J. Storing'sComplete Anti-Federalist, hailed as "a civic event of enduring importance" (Leonard W. Levy,New York Times Book Review), indisputably established the importance of the Anti-Federalists' writings for our understanding of the Constitution. As Storing wrote in his introduction, "If the foundation of the American polity was laid by the Federalists, the Anti-Federalist reservations echo through American history; and it is in the dialogue, not merely in the Federalist victory, that the country's principles are to be discovered." This one-volume edition presents the essence of the other side of that crucial dialogue. It can be read as a genuine counterpart to theFederalist Papers; as an original source companion to Storing's brilliant essayWhat the Anti-Federalists Were For(volume I ofThe Complete Anti-Federalist, available as a separate paperback); or as a guide to exploring the full range of Anti-Federalist writing.The Anti-Federalistmakes a fundamental source of our political heritage accessible to everyone.

Herbert J. Storing (1928-77), who spent most of his professional life at the University of Chicago, was, at the time of his death, Robert K. Gooch Professor of Government and the director of the Program on the Presidency, White Burkett Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. Murray Dry, who prepared this abridgment, is the Charles A. Dana Professor of political science at Middlebury College.