Woodward, Reconstruction, and Their Legacy

Woodward, Reconstruction, and Their Legacy

The Lost Lectures of C. Vann Woodward Edited by Natalie J. Ring and Sarah E. Gardner. Oxford University Press, 2020. Hardcover, 288 Pages, $35. Reviewed by Stephen B. Presser The great intractable American social problem is race. There is, undeniably, a vast...
Hope for a Rebirth of Common Sense in the Academy?

Hope for a Rebirth of Common Sense in the Academy?

Walk Away: When the Political Left Turns Right Edited by Lee Trepanier and Grant Havers. Lexington Books, Political Theory for Today Series, 2019. Cloth, 202 pages, $95. Reviewed by Stephen B. Presser There’s a famous aphorism often wrongly attributed to Oscar Wilde,...
Fly-Fishing and the Constitution

Fly-Fishing and the Constitution

A Republic, If You Can Keep It by Neil Gorsuch with Jane Nitze and David Feder. Crown Forum, 2019. Cloth, 352 pages, $30. Reviewed by Stephen B. Presser More than two centuries ago, Samuel Johnson made the point that there were some things that were remarkable not...
Leviathan at Bay, at Last?

Leviathan at Bay, at Last?

Judicial Fortitude: The Last Chance to Rein in the Administrative State By Peter J. Wallison. Encounter Books, 2018. Cloth, 216 pages, $24. Reviewed by Stephen B. Presser When, in the decades to come, historians look back at the early twenty-first century, they will...
Judging as Realpolitik

Judging as Realpolitik

The Judge: 26 Machiavellian Lessons By Ronald K. L. Collins and David M. Skover. Oxford University Press, 2017. Cloth, 296 pages, $28. Reviewed by Stephen B. Presser As the controversies surrounding the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s second nominee...