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Title: In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America's Bill of Rights by Russell Freedman ISBN: 0-8234-1585-6 Publisher: Holiday House Pub. Date: July, 2003 Format: School & Library Binding Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: Richie's Picks: IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY
Comment: On April 23, 2003, William Baue reported in SocialFunds.com:
IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY: THE STORY OF AMERICA'S BILL OF RIGHTS is first a brief history of the formulation of the US Bill of Rights. It is also a look at how the black-robed trustees of the "462 words written two centuries ago" which "promise the basic civil liberties that all Americans enjoy as their birthright" have not always kept that promise for all Americans, and it examines how these words are interpreted and reinterpreted as the group of individuals serving on the Supreme Court change, as society, technology, and other factors change, and as new circumstances and new laws come into play.
Interpretation of new laws in relationship to the Constitution is called judicial review. When it comes to the Bill of Rights, judicial review constantly reveals those 462 words to be a living, enduring organism that is relevant today, no matter what day today is. It causes many of us to be forever amazed by the genius of the Founding Fathers in gathering these words/ideas/ideals (particularly when they and their progeny were such jerks in keeping those sacred rights to themselves and their white male moneyed Protestant slave-owning counterparts for so damned long).
For such a book to have some lasting value to a reader and to a library collection, it must illuminate the beginnings and flow of Constitutional history in such a way that readers can understand the process and utilize that understanding as a stepping stone for future exploration as the Bill of Rights continues evolving through new justices and new Court cases.
Russell Freedman's book does just that. It shows how times change and decisions change. It provides juicy, sometimes gross examples of behavior that resulted in the promulgation of the English Common Law, the English Bill of Rights and how those rights and American colonial-period behaviors all contributed to these first ten Amendments to the US Constitution.
Freedman presents many historic decisions--later "corrected" by more-recent Justices--that (hopefully) all of us would agree in retrospect were unfair. Some early examples are a result of a Supreme Court ruling in the early 1800s that the Bill of Rights applied only to the national government. Thus (besides the slaves, the Native Americans, and the boorish treatment of women) you had other situations I wasn't aware of such as:
"In New Jersey, non-Protestants weren't granted full civil rights until 1844. In New Hampshire, Catholics couldn't vote until 1851."
But the vast proportion of the information and cases that Russell Freedman presents involve issues that are relevant and vital to today's teens. Discussion of Japanese Internment is followed by a look at the treatment and roundups of Muslim and Arab men in America following September 11th. Freedman explores many other hot-button issues such as reproductive freedom, high-tech snooping, random drug testing, the Internet, and the Death Penalty. I found his presentation of the modern issues and historic precedents surrounding the Second Amendment to be especially thought-provoking. (I'd love to see classroom discussion of that chapter coupled with a viewing of Bowling for Columbine.)
Accompanying both the historic and current issues are great tie-in photos and other illustrations. For instance, back in February we discussed with our students Bretton Barber, the Michigan kid who was kicked out of school for wearing a shirt with a printed photo of the President captioned "International Terrorist." Barber--who along with the ACLU has a lawsuit pending against the school district--invoked the Tinker v. Des Moines case from the 1960s in asserting his right to wear that shirt. Not only does this book include discussion of the Tinker case, it has a great photo of the two Tinker kids holding their black armbands emblazoned with peace symbols. (In ruling for the Tinker siblings, the Court decreed that constitutional protections "are not shed at the school house gate.")
The more sophisticated history students will consume this book quickly and be hungry for more. They will be able to dig into the extensive bibliographical sources that Freedman provides us, the majority of which have been published within the last decade. But the typical eighth-grade American History student will find this book in itself a wealth of information and a doorway to the beauty and enduring nature of our country's most precious of documents.
Richie Partington
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