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A classic collection of essays on great Supreme Court decisions in which twenty leading historians describe landmark cases that have altered the Constitution.

From Chief Justice John Marshall to the present day, from the Dred Scott case to Roe v. Wade, the accounts found in this newly revised edition of Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution, which has also been expanded by the addition of five new essays, focus not only on the significance of the decisions themselves but on the personal conflicts that gave the justices the opportunity to act. People of every sort--smugglers and black slaves, bankers and butchers, ferryboat captains, rebels, sweated workers and great tycoons--make up the cast of characters in these dramas.

Average Customer Rating:

Journalistic and Therefore Useful

Customer Rating:

This series of essays will serve as an elementary introduction to rulings of the United States Supreme Court. The essays are more descriptive than analytic, so anyone interested in one of the few landmarks herein would do well to use this volume only as the start of research. Some essays are somewhat critical, but most are more about context than about correction. The landmark cases are "humanized" in a way that should interest laypersons who want to learn more (but not a lot more!) about their constitutional history.

Journalistic and Therefore Useful

Customer Rating:

This series of essays will serve as an elementary introduction to rulings of the United States Supreme Court. The essays are more descriptive than analytic, so anyone interested in one of the few landmarks herein would do well to use this volume only as the start of research. Some essays are somewhat critical, but most are more about context than about correction. The landmark cases are "humanized" in a way that should interest laypersons who want to learn more (but not a lot more!) about their constitutional history.

Historical, Social and Personal Context Elucidated

Customer Rating:

This book does something not terribly original, but still intruiging. It presents detailed social, historical and personal context for various constitutional disputes, most of which appear to have far exceeded their ostensibly limited origin and scope. Hence, seemingly minor tiffs have resulted in sharp changes in direction in Constitutional Law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, in a manner which may well violate the spirit of the Constitution as originally drafted by the founding fathers.