Fault Lines in the Constitution by Levinson - ESSENTIAL

Levinson, Cynthia and Sanford Levinson Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, their fights, and the flaws that affect us today, 225 pages.  Peachtree, 2017.  $20.

While the Constitution of the United States is a brilliant, ground-breaking document, no document or form of government is absolutely perfect.  And there is no way the men of 200 plus years ago could predict the changes to our culture, economy, and way of life in the future.  They did the best they could.  Levinson  and Levinson identify and delve into the shortcomings of the Constitution and explain how those faultlines affect  us now.

For me this was a very interesting and engaging reading experience. A teacher of history could use the information in this book to guide an in-class debate about how well the Constitution of the United States works (or doesn’t work).  A teacher could also use the book for ideas in preparing higher order questions for students to consider. For me, this book helped me to expand my thinking and at least consider the possibility that there are maybe things that could be improved in the Constitution to help the United States function better and helped me to reflect on the impossible job the Framers had in creating a completely new form of government. They couldn’t possibly have thought of everything.

Any US History or Government teacher at any level should read this book to further their knowledge of our Constitution and government.

MS, HS, GIFT – ESSENTIAL.  K. Abel, US History teacher