|
|
US Mall 1 - America's Constitution: A Biography
|
List Price: $16.95
Our Price: $9.67
Your Save: $ 7.28 ( 43% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 342.73029
EAN: 9780812972726
ISBN: 0812972724
Label: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 672
Publication Date: 2006-09-12
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Release Date: 2006-09-12
Studio: Random House Trade Paperbacks
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Constitution is broken
Comment: Professor Amar knows the US Constitution is broken, dead, corrupted, and he is one of the few people smart enough to fix it. As a private citizen who is concerned about the serious dangers confronting our country, I summon Professor Amar and over one hundred other of the nation's best thinkers, politicians, statespersons, Constitutional scholars, foreign policy experts, business leaders, and media stars to Independence Hall in Philadelphia beginning July 4th, 2009, to craft an alternative Constitution. I ask them to fix serious flaws regarding the balance of power among the three branches of government, to fix foreign policy, to prevent crime & tyranny & foreign terrorism, to define citizenship, to limit partisanship, to preserve privacy, and to write a new document that is as well written and brief as the first one.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: From a Court-historan for party-hacks
Comment: Amar makes the contradictory claims that the Constitution was ratified by the peoples of the individual sovereign states, but that somehow they also did so as "one people" that he admits didn't even exist as a legitimate ratifying body. And it just goes downhill from there; Amar, being a satist lackey, reads powers into the Constitution that would have the Framers and States calling for his head on a platter-- most notably the power of the federal government to interpret the same Constitution that supposedl LIMITS its powers, thus being the judge of its own powers as Jefferson warned.
However that doesn't bother Amir, who naively and arrogantly holds the Constitution as so utterly "brilliant" and "perfect" on its "checks and balances," as to circumvent any such possibility of abuse; and on this point alone, Amar disqualifies his analysis from any intelligent consideration.
However this is only the beginning of such fawning disqualifications, as Amar displays himself as a true lackey of Leviathanism.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A rare gem
Comment: This is a remarkable book. The author's knowledge, insight, analysis and synthesis are amazing. There's too much to praise about it, so I'll just mention one aspect: Amar makes a very compelling case that from the beginning slavery was a disease spreading infection in our society and political system (aided by the 3/5 clause), increasingly corrupting our character and institutions until a terribly bloody breaking point was reached. The evil was partially righted, then amorality returned, allowing a viciousness to fester until another crisis led to new progress. But it remains that slavery and its legacy constitute the central national failure, which we still haven't nearly corrected. Most of the book is quite positive, and slavery's not the principal focus, but Amar's treatment of it is both convincing and unforgettable.
Customer Rating:
Summary: scholarly, yet readable
Comment: For decades I've been wandering about with a mish mash of semi-contradictory ideas about the constitution. Mr. Amar has managed to correct, justify, and reframe most of them into a (_thoroughly_ documented) coherent whole.
Where the constitution is unclear, he quotes the debates and letters of the founders explaining what they meant. Where there is modern debate, he footnotes where to look for different viewpoints. Where there was debate during the writing of the constitution, he tells you who said what and why.
That would probably be enough to earn 5 stars, but he somehow managed to turn an erudite treatise on the history of one government into a page-turner. I don't know how, but there it is...
Customer Rating:
Summary: A must read.
Comment: Wow, I learned more about the consitution then I ever could have imagined. I didn't have any idea about many of the themes and debates over the constitution and it's amendments. I'm a novice at political thinking, before the presidential campaign I could've care less about politics. Some of this is a bit over my head since I don't have a background in law or political history. However, Mr. Amar explains it well enough that most should understand. I can't recommend it enough for anyone interested in the constitution.
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Constitution is broken
Comment: Professor Amar knows the US Constitution is broken, dead, corrupted, and he is one of the few people smart enough to fix it. As a private citizen who is concerned about the serious dangers confronting our country, I summon Professor Amar and over one hundred other of the nation's best thinkers, politicians, statespersons, Constitutional scholars, foreign policy experts, business leaders, and media stars to Independence Hall in Philadelphia beginning July 4th, 2009, to craft an alternative Constitution. I ask them to fix serious flaws regarding the balance of power among the three branches of government, to fix foreign policy, to prevent crime & tyranny & foreign terrorism, to define citizenship, to limit partisanship, to preserve privacy, and to write a new document that is as well written and brief as the first one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: From a Court-historan for party-hacks
Comment: Amar makes the contradictory claims that the Constitution was ratified by the peoples of the individual sovereign states, but that somehow they also did so as "one people" that he admits didn't even exist as a legitimate ratifying body. And it just goes downhill from there; Amar, being a satist lackey, reads powers into the Constitution that would have the Framers and States calling for his head on a platter-- most notably the power of the federal government to interpret the same Constitution that supposedl LIMITS its powers, thus being the judge of its own powers as Jefferson warned.
However that doesn't bother Amir, who naively and arrogantly holds the Constitution as so utterly "brilliant" and "perfect" on its "checks and balances," as to circumvent any such possibility of abuse; and on this point alone, Amar disqualifies his analysis from any intelligent consideration.
However this is only the beginning of such fawning disqualifications, as Amar displays himself as a true lackey of Leviathanism.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A rare gem
Comment: This is a remarkable book. The author's knowledge, insight, analysis and synthesis are amazing. There's too much to praise about it, so I'll just mention one aspect: Amar makes a very compelling case that from the beginning slavery was a disease spreading infection in our society and political system (aided by the 3/5 clause), increasingly corrupting our character and institutions until a terribly bloody breaking point was reached. The evil was partially righted, then amorality returned, allowing a viciousness to fester until another crisis led to new progress. But it remains that slavery and its legacy constitute the central national failure, which we still haven't nearly corrected. Most of the book is quite positive, and slavery's not the principal focus, but Amar's treatment of it is both convincing and unforgettable.
Customer Rating:
Summary: scholarly, yet readable
Comment: For decades I've been wandering about with a mish mash of semi-contradictory ideas about the constitution. Mr. Amar has managed to correct, justify, and reframe most of them into a (_thoroughly_ documented) coherent whole.
Where the constitution is unclear, he quotes the debates and letters of the founders explaining what they meant. Where there is modern debate, he footnotes where to look for different viewpoints. Where there was debate during the writing of the constitution, he tells you who said what and why.
That would probably be enough to earn 5 stars, but he somehow managed to turn an erudite treatise on the history of one government into a page-turner. I don't know how, but there it is...
Customer Rating:
Summary: A must read.
Comment: Wow, I learned more about the consitution then I ever could have imagined. I didn't have any idea about many of the themes and debates over the constitution and it's amendments. I'm a novice at political thinking, before the presidential campaign I could've care less about politics. Some of this is a bit over my head since I don't have a background in law or political history. However, Mr. Amar explains it well enough that most should understand. I can't recommend it enough for anyone interested in the constitution.
Array
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
