Review by Choice Review
A valuable text on American constitutionalism that is based largely on secondary sources, this is neither a legal history (such as Alfred H. Kelly and Winfred A. Harbison's The American Constitution, 5th ed., 1976) nor a treatise on constitutional law (such as Laurence H. Tribe's American Constitutional Law, 1978), but a bit of both. A number of older but still valuable books are ignored (e.g., Carl Brent Swisher's American Constitutional Development, 2nd ed., 1954), but the discussion is insightful, comprehensive, and generally fair. In six sections, the author treats the spirit of constitutionalism, the structure and control of government, the quest for liberty, business and the economy, and, in a concluding chapter, a third century of constitutionalism. Too much reliance is placed on Tribe for recent developments in American constitutional law to be considered (e.g., John E. Nowak, Ronald D. Rotunda, and J. Nelson Young's Handbook on Constitutional Law, 1978, is ignored). Good illustrations; excellent notes and references; adequate table of cases and index.-F.W. Neuber, Western Kentucky University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
