America's Constitution: A Biography - Paperback

by Akhil Reed Amar (Author)

This "authoritative [and] important" (The New York Times Book Review) "biography" of America's framing document explores topics ranging from presidential power and freedom of speech to birthright citizenship and beyond, explaining not only what the Constitution says but also why the Constitution says it.

"Elegantly written, thorough but concise, and consistently enlightening . . . an indispensable reference."--Scott Turow, The Washington Post Book World (Best Books of the Year)

WINNER OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION'S SILVER GAVEL AWARD

In America's Constitution, eminent constitutional-law scholar Akhil Reed Amar gives the first comprehensive account of one of the world's great political texts. 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 invaluable work, bound to become a standard reference for any student of history and all citizens of the United States.

Author Biography

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.