America's Constitutional Soul - Paperback

by Harvey C. Jr. Mansfield (Author)

In America's Constitutional Soul, one of America's leading political theorists and most penetrating thinkers on the Constitution describes what's wrong with American politics today--and what political scientists can do about it. Beginning with a chronical of the Reagan elections, Mansfield shows how our politics reveals its nature by the way it pictures the Constitution. He takes aim at the haunted "realism" of contemporary political scientists, contrasting it with the real-world successes of those early practitioners of the art who actually helped define a whole new form of government--and with it such concepts as federalism, a strong exective, and judicial review.

Back Jacket

The essays are deeply reflective, bear on an important common issue, and advance a fruitful, if currently neglected, method of interpreting both the Constitution and departures from it.

Author Biography

Harvey C. Mansfield Jr., is Frank C. Thompson Professor of Government at Harvard University. His many books include Statemanship and Party Government, The Spirit of Liberalism, and Taming the Prince.