Taking their cue from the late Paul L. Murphy, one of our nation's leading legal historians, this illustrious group of scholars argues that the field of constitutional history is "too important to be left solely to lawyers and judges." Their "state-of-the-field" volume reclaims constitutional history's rightful place as a vital and necessary part of our intellectual enterprise, in part by pushing the field onto fresh, even controversial, terrain. The result is a provocative new look at the past, present, and future of American constitutionalism, one that opens a window on the larger American soul.
Sandra F. VanBurkleo is associate professor of history and adjunct professor of law at Wayne State University and the author of ""Belonging to the World"": Women's Rights and American Constitutional Culture. Kermit L. Hall is president and professor of history at Utah State University and the author of The Magic Mirror: Law in American History and editor of the Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court. Robert J. Kaczorowski is professor of law and director of the Condon Institute in Legal History at Fordham University School of Law and author of The Politics of Judicial Interpretation: The Federal Courts, Departmen of Justice, and Civil Rights, 1866-1876.