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Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
A March of Liberty: A Constitutional History of the United States, 2/e, is a clearly written, comprehensive overview of American constitutional development. Covering the country's history from the founding of the English colonies up through the latest decisions of the Supreme Court, this two-volume work presents the most complete discussion of American constitutional history currently available. Reflecting the latest in contemporary scholarship, the authors successfully blend cases and court doctrines into the larger fabric of American political, economic, and social history. They discuss in detail the great cases handed down by the Supreme Court, showing how these cases played out in society and how constitutional growth parallels changes in American culture. In addition, this two-volume set examines lesser-known decisions that played important roles in affecting change, and also contains in-depth analyses of the intellects and personalities of the Supreme Court justices who made these influential decisions.
This second edition of A March of Liberty addresses recent scholarship on race and gender, covers both constitutional and legal history, and examines federal, state, and private law. The text exemplifies the current trends in American constitutional history through its holistic approach of integrating the decisions of the state and lower federal courts with the decisions of the Supreme Court. Volume I covers the colonial period up through Reconstruction and explores central rulings on property law, religious freedom, slavery, and women's rights. It also examines the need for a governmental system of checks and balances, lesser-known rulings on land and water usage, and impeachment and treason trials.
A March of Liberty, 2/e, features useful supplemental materials including the text of the Constitution, a chronological list of Supreme Court justices, and suggested further readings. Gracefully written and clearly explained, this popular two-volume set is indispensable for courses in American constitutional history and law.
very poor history
| Customer Rating:   | I was assigned this book and the first volume for a class. It's terrible. That is really all there is to say. There are frequent mischaracterizations and misstatements about events with which I am familiar. These are annoying and undermine parts of the book that I am less familiar with.
If you are reading for pleasure or knowledge you would be better off reading Zinn's Peoples History or 'The History of American Freedom' instead. Both are also broad histories, and though they are less 'tuned' to constitutional events, I think the over all understanding of the legal transformation of the country is vastly superior.
There is alot of talk in the other reviews about the book being biased and that it's historians jobs to give an unbiased account. This is a rather unfortunate view and shows a lack of understanding of history. It is simply impossible not to be biased in history. History and the past are not the same thing. History is one person interpretation of the past. We can never know the past, only how other people interpreted it. Esp. in a broad survey book like this, the very things that writer chooses to address show bias. If someone claims to be an unbiased historian, then they are just silly, and trying to cover up your bias is not necessarily a good thing, let people know how you feel and let them decided to agree or disagree with the arguments in your book. It is better to read multiple accounts of a period including primary and secondary sources so that you can make you own interpretation of the past. |
It's a textbook
| Customer Rating: | As far as history textbooks are concerned, I like this one. Yes, it's dense, but it's dense subject matter. The book is a lot less dry than it could be. Yes, the book is biased, but that can lead to interesting class discussion (or just plain thought), especially if one reads other essays/books on the subjects.
I'm trying to imagine a better constitutional history textbook and I can't, though I will not claim to be an expert on history textbooks. At least this one gives plenty of information to understand the history that surrounds the Supreme Court cases. Everything's nice, connected, and easy to understand--if a bit dense. |
Booooring!
| Customer Rating: | | Avoid this book! It will kill your interest in US History. It is a bad attempt at summarizing the events which shaped the Constitution. While it made a good point at stressing the importance of our "British Heritage", especially when it comes to the legal system in our country, the author brought in too much of his own bias (as another reviewer has pointed out). I think the accompanying text to this book, Documents of American Constitutional and Legal History, is better. It at least lets you draw your own conclusions from original texts. |
A slightly skewed perspective
| Customer Rating: | | The completeness and comprehensiveness of this volume is commendable, however, there are some things that detract from its overall value as a text. Reading it, it is very easy to pick up the authors' blatant partisanship, with inumerable stabs at the current Presidential administration, and ideological interpretations of groups and viewpoints in history. This is dangerous, especially when used as a tool in colleges and universities. It is not the business of historians to tell students what to think about history; rather, it is their responsibility to present history in a non-biased form and allow debate and discussion, and permit students to draw their own conclusions. I find this is too often the case with modern history texts. If these discrepancies are repaired, it would be a fine text. But as I said, the text encompassed a vast amount of information, and was essentially complete in portraying the early republic. |
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