To Find Out More

In the vast literature about our Constitution and the convention that created it, the works fall into three general categories: primary sources that scholars rely on; books written by historians based on those sources; and popular treatments by authors writing for a wider, more general audience. According to Richard B. Morris, two particularly valuable books in the second category have been newly reissued in paperback for this anniversary year. They are Clinton Rossiter’s 1787: The Grand Convention (Norton) and Carl Van Doren’s The Great Rehearsal (Penguin). He also recommends The Creation of the American Republic, by Gordon S. Wood (Norton). Dr. Morris’s own new book examines the intellectual antecedents of the Constitution, surveys the nation that gave it birth, and ends with its writing and ratification. Among more popular books on the subject are Catherine Drinker Bowen’s recently reissued Miracle at Philadelphia.