We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution
Publication information:
Abstract
From the best-selling author of These Truths comes We the People, a stunning new history of the U.S. Constitution, for a troubling new era.
The U.S. Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world—and one of the most difficult to amend. At what cost? In this landmark, lavishly illustrated book, Harvard professor of history and law Jill Lepore argues that the philosophy of amendment is foundational to American constitutionalism. Challenging both originalism and the Supreme Court’s monopoly on constitutional interpretation, Lepore argues that the framers never intended for the Constitution to be kept, like a butterfly, under glass, but instead expected that future generations would be forever tinkering with it, improving the machinery of government. At the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding and in an account as radical as Charles Beard’s An Economic Interpretation of the United States, Lepore offers a sweeping, lyrical, and democratic constitutional history, telling the stories of generations of Americans who have attempted everything from abolishing the Electoral College to guaranteeing environmental rights, hoping to mend America by amending its Constitution.
Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her many books include the international bestseller, These Truths: A History of the United States.
Editorial Reviews
"In this remarkably engaging and deeply researched work, one of America’s most important living historians illuminates the most vital quality of our Constitution: its capacity for renewal."
― Pete Buttigieg, former secretary of transportation
"A pulsating, at times astonishing journey through Americans’ never-ending efforts to form a more perfect union. We the People is essential reading for anyone who cares about self-government under the Constitution."
― Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law, Columbia Law School, and author of How Rights Went Wrong
"Jill Lepore’s lyrical journey through the history of the Constitution brings its eminently amendable state to life in vivid and inspiring detail and delivers it to us, the living, for further repairs and improvements."
― Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor, Harvard, and author of Justice by Means of Democracy
"An extraordinary and inspiring achievement. Lepore offers a whole new understanding of constitutional change. It’s a triumph of the head and the heart."
― Cass R. Sunstein, Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard Law School, and author of How to Interpret the Constitution
"Not only an historian with prodigious powers of original research and integrative genius, not only a spellbinding writer with a golden pen, Jill Lepore is a preacher at an open-air American revival meeting: she will tell you a gripping and unfamiliar story of our own past that destroys your complacency and makes you reimagine what is possible for the secular miracle that is America."
― Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-8th District), ranking member, U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee