Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution

By John A. Garraty

Book Overview

A classic collection of essays on great Supreme Court decisions in which twenty leading historians describe landmark cases that have altered the Constitution.From Chief Justice John Marshall to the present day, from the Dred Scott case to Roe v. Wade, the accounts found in this newly revised edition of Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution, which has also been expanded by the addition of five new essays, focus not only on the significance of the decisions themselves but on the personal conflicts that gave the justices the opportunity to act. People of every sort--smugglers and black slaves, bankers and butchers, ferryboat captains, rebels, sweated workers and great tycoons--make up the cast of characters in these dramas.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060550627
• ISBN13: 9780060550622
• Release Date: December 1987
• Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books
• Length: 391 Pages
• Weight: 1.27 lbs.

Customer Reviews

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.