America's Constitution: A Biography

The Constitution read the way the founders asked it to be read: closely, clause by clause, word by word, as a written instrument that rewards attention. Amar walks through the whole document explaining why each provision is phrased exactly as it is, and the cumulative effect is to make the familiar text strange and alive again. The best companion for anyone who wants to actually read the Constitution rather than merely invoke it.

The Yale constitutional scholar who reads the document clause by clause and word by word, on the conviction that the text rewards close attention. America's Constitution: A Biography walks through the Constitution as a written instrument with a history, explaining why each provision is phrased as it is. He treats the founding document as something to be read, not merely invoked.