Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution

by John A. Garraty

Book Overview

"From Marbury v. Madison to Roe v. Wade. . . each essay provides a concise, lively, clearly explained account of the actual people and events involved in the litigation and a cogent summary of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061320846
• Release Date: December 2009
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.9" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Well....

I thought that I cancelled this order, but maybe not. It took forever to find this book and ship it to me, and now I do not even need it.

Very interesting book

This is one of my favorite history books, and perhaps my favorite on legal history. The author provides a good, basic description of some of the most notable Supreme Court decisions that have affected the Constitution and the direction of the U.S. legal system. You also get some of the personal details of the parties involved, etc. so the book has a nice human element. I first read this book in law school, but I'd particularly recommend it for people with no legal background and little or no understanding of Supreme Court jurisprudence. I think it'll give you a much better sense of both the role of the Court and how the Court's decisions shape our society.

Journalistic and Therefore Useful

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.