The Lives of the Constitution: Ten Exceptional Minds That Shaped America's Supreme Law
Joseph Tartakovsky
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
In a fascinating blend of biography and history, Joseph Tartakovsky tells the epic and unexpected story of our Constitution through the eyes of ten extraordinary individuals--some renowned, like Alexander Hamilton and Woodrow Wilson, and some forgotten, like James Wilson and Ida B. Wells-Barnett. Tartakovsky brings to life their struggles over our supreme law from its origins in revolutionary America to the era of Obama and Trump. Sweeping from settings as diverse as Gold Rush California to the halls of Congress, and crowded with a vivid Dickensian cast, Tartakovsky shows how America's unique constitutional culture grapples with questions like democracy, racial and sexual equality, free speech, economic liberty, and the role of government. Joining the ranks of other great American storytellers, Tartakovsky chronicles how Daniel Webster sought to avert the Civil War; how Alexis de Tocqueville misunderstood America; how Robert Jackson balanced liberty and order in the battle against Nazism and Communism; and how Antonin Scalia died warning Americans about the ever-growing reach of the Supreme Court. From the 1787 Philadelphia Convention to the clash over gay marriage, this is a grand tour through two centuries of constitutional history as never told before, and an education in the principles that sustain America in the most astonishing experiment in government ever undertaken.
Product Details
Price
$16.99
$15.80
Publisher
Encounter Books
Publish Date
October 08, 2019
Pages
320
Dimensions
6.0 X 0.9 X 9.0 inches | 1.0 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781641770620
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Become an affiliateAbout the Author
Joseph Tartakovsky is the former Deputy Solicitor General of Nevada and a practicing attorney in constitutional and appellate law at an international law firm. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times. He is also the James Wilson Fellow in Constitutional Law at the Claremont Institute and served as a law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Reviews
"The Lives of the Constitution is as supple, smart, and opinionated as the ten men and women it depicts. Joseph Tartakovsky will surprise and instruct you on every page." -- Richard Brookhiser, author of Alexander Hamilton, American "Part history, part biography, and part legal analysis, The Lives of the Constitution is a unique account of how the American Constitution over two centuries has both changed and yet remained the same. Tartakovsky combines his pragmatic expertise as Nevada's Deputy Solicitor General with insightful legal scholarship to show how traditional categories like 'strict constructionist' or 'progressive' do not always reflect the unexpected ways in which the Constitution has both enriched America in times of evolutionary change and yet saved America from radical transformation. A wholly original approach and analysis." -- Victor Davis Hanson, Senior Fellow, Classics and Military History, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, author of The Second World Wars