by JACK N. RAKOVE



Editorial Reviews

Imagine, for a preposterous moment, that 55 national leaders convened to
write a document to guide the country for hundreds of years. It seems
unlikely--given that our current contingent of so-called leaders can't
agree on how to balance a checkbook--that they could reach consensus on
such issues as the allotment of congressional seats. The political and
ideological issues that faced the creators of the Constitution were
similar in some ways to those at play today. And in some ways they were
vastly different ones. Jack Rakove, a history professor at Stanford
University, has in this book framed the process that led to the drafting
of the constitution in its historical and political context to offer
insight into the difficulty of interpreting that most influential of
documents.-

Product Description:

From abortion to same-sex marriage, today's most urgent political debates
will hinge on this two-part question: What did the United States
Constitution originally mean and who now understands its meaning best?
Rakove chronicles the Constitution from inception to ratification and, in
doing so, traces its complex weave of ideology and interest, showing how
this document has meant different things at different times to different
groups of Americans.

Product Details

Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Vintage (May 27, 1997)
ISBN: 0679781218