Description
Book SynopsisExamines the post-Civil War struggle between competing political and legal interpretations of slavery and reconstruction to reveal how accepted historical truth was established. Offering a fresh approach to the subject of original intent, this book is useful for legal historians and scholars of constitutional law, and American history.
Trade Review“Brandwein’s impressive study adds a new dimension to the understanding of Reconstruction ideology and its legacy for future civil rights jurisprudence. . . . Highly recommended.” -
Choice“[A] welcomed . . . critique. . . . Professor Brandwein develops her thesis using an able study of how Americans from Reconstruction to the present have understood the events responsible for the passage of the post-Civil War Amendments.” - Mark A. Graber,
The Law and Politics Book Review“[W]ell-formulated, insightful, and timely. . . . Any sociologist interested in the origins, reproduction, and transformation of social hierarchies must come to terms with this crucial insight about law and patterns of social organization.” - Nicholas Pedriana,
American Journal of Sociology“
Reconstructing Reconstruction is one of the finest meditations on history and law in recent years.” - Bryan H. Wildenthal,
H-Net Reviews“[A] good read. . . .
Reconstructing Reconstruction is a fascinating journey that leads inexorably to [Brandwein’s] closing argument that constitutional law is a ‘culture of argument.’ . . . [H]er examination of the sociology of constitutional law is good reading for judges, lawyers, and students of constitutional law.” - Howard Ball,
Journal of American History“An exciting theoretical examination. . . . Legal scholars will have to acknowledge the challenge Brandwein poses by treating ‘original intent’ as a social and historical construction.”—Mark Tushnet, Georgetown University Law Center
“An important call for the development of a ‘sociology of constitutional law.’ Brandwein forces us to pay more attention to the ways in which the reconstruction of history (in this case, the history of Reconstruction) becomes a vital resource in contemporary constitutional politics.”—Howard Gillman, University of Southern California
“
Reconstructing Reconstruction is one of the finest meditations on history and law in recent years.” -- Bryan H. Wildenthal * H-Net Reviews *
“[A] good read. . . .
Reconstructing Reconstruction is a fascinating journey that leads inexorably to [Brandwein’s] closing argument that constitutional law is a ‘culture of argument.’ . . . [H]er examination of the sociology of constitutional law is good reading for judges, lawyers, and students of constitutional law.” -- Howard Ball * Journal of American History *
“[A] welcomed . . . critique. . . . Professor Brandwein develops her thesis using an able study of how Americans from Reconstruction to the present have understood the events responsible for the passage of the post-Civil War Amendments.” -- Mark A. Graber * Law and Politics Book Review *
“[W]ell-formulated, insightful, and timely. . . . Any sociologist interested in the origins, reproduction, and transformation of social hierarchies must come to terms with this crucial insight about law and patterns of social organization.” -- Nicholas Pedriana * American Journal of Sociology *
“Brandwein’s impressive study adds a new dimension to the understanding of Reconstruction ideology and its legacy for future civil rights jurisprudence. . . . Highly recommended.” * Choice *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. Slavery as an Interpretive Issue in the 39th Reconstruction Congress: The Northern Democrats
3. Republican Slavery Criticism
4. The Supreme Court’s Official History
5. Dueling Histories: Charles Fairman and William Crosskey Reconstruct “Original Understanding”
6. Recipes for “Acceptable” History
7. History as an Institutional Resource: Warren Court Debates over Legislative Apportionment
8. Constitutional Law as a “Culture of Argument”: Toward a Sociology of Constitutional Law
9. Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
