"A guide the citizenship and the American government, The Constitution Explained takes an even-handed approach to controversial issues and explores various points of view. It sheds a light on the differing and changing interpretations of the many broadly worded key phrases in the Constitution. You'll learn how the Constitution has been adopted to different times and various situations. You'll learn what it does-and does not-promise U.S. citizens....

"A timely, revelatory look at freedom of speech-our most basic right and the one that protects all the others. Free speech is a human right, and the free expression of thought is at the very essence of being human. The United States was founded on this premise, and the First Amendment remains the single greatest constitutional commitment to the right of free expression in history. Yet there is a systemic effort to bar opposing viewpoints on subjects...

A Companion to the United States Constitution and Its Amendments is designed to show students just how revolutionary the Constitution was-and how relevant it remains today. It begins by revisiting the key events leading to the Constitution's ratification, including the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention, then goes article by article, amendment by amendment, to describe each section of the...

"As battles over voting rights continue to be a major issue throughout the United States, Jamie Capuzza looks back at the story of Ohio-the fifth state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment- and its key role in the national women's suffrage movement. From 1850 through 1920, Ohio's contributions were significant: Ohioans were the first to petition a government for women's enfranchisement, they formed the nation's first state-level women's rights organization,...

"From the longtime New York Times reporter, best-selling author, and Pulitzer Prize winner-- an expansive, timely assessment of the state of free speech in America. David Shipler's recent best seller, The Working Poor, cemented his place among our most trenchant social commentators. Now, he turns his keen, illuminating focus to another endangered American ideal: freedom of speech. Through selected accounts of First Amendment invocation and infringement,...

"Though the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1788, its impact on our lives is as recent as today's news. Claims and counterclaims about the constitutionality of governmental actions are a habit of American politics. This document, which its framers designed to limit power, often has made political conflict inevitable. It also has accommodated and legitimized the political and social changes of a vibrant, powerful democratic nation. A product of history's...

"A former U.S. senator joins a legal scholar to examine a hushed effort to radically change our Constitution, offering a warning and a way forward. Over the last two decades, a fringe plan to call a convention under the Constitution's amendment mechanism--the nation's first ever--has inched through statehouses. Delegates, like those in Philadelphia two centuries ago, would exercise nearly unlimited authority to draft changes to our fundamental law,...

When a string of racially motivated lynchings threatens to tear the country apart, two orators sweep into Washington and demand that the constitution be modified to allow for a law that will end the widespread violence. Racial and religious speech that undermines others' beliefs must be classified as hate speech and must be severely punished.

"Based on prodigious research and told largely through the voices of the participants, Michael Klarman's The Framers' Coup narrates how the Framers' clashing interests shaped the Constitution--and American history itself. ... Not only does Klarman capture the knife's-edge atmosphere of the convention, he populates his narrative with riveting and colorful stories. ... The Framers' Coup is more than a compendium of great stories, however, and the powerful...

"Liberals believe that "states' rights" is merely a smokescreen for racist repression. What we have forgotten is that the Constitution itself is a compromise between state and federal governments--a compromise the Federal government no longer respects. Historically, the doctrine of states' rights has been a powerful engine of prosperity and a protector of American freedoms. Conservatives need to reclaim states' rights as an honorable tradition, and...