In this new edition of the most comprehensive study of the political reaction against the Eighteenth Amendment, a response that led to its reversal fourteen years later by the Twenty-first Amendment, David E. Kyvig examines the operation of the national liquor ban, discusses central issues of U.S. constitutional development, and illuminates continuing public policy issues of alcohol and drug control.Employing previously unexamined archival evidence, Kyvig calls attention to a littl...

Choice Outstanding BookIn this magisterial new work, Bancroft Prize-winning historian David Kyvig chronicles the rise of a culture of impeachment since 1960—one that extends far beyond the infamous scandals surrounding Presidents Richard Nixon (Watergate) and Bill Clinton (Monica Lewinsky) and has dramatically altered the face of American politics.A buzz word in today’s public life, “impeachment” was anything but that before 1960. Since then it has been tra...

Winner: Bancroft PrizeWinner: Henry Adams PrizeWinner: Ohio History Association Book PrizeIn time for the 225th anniversary of the Bill of Rights, David Kyvig completed an Afterword to his landmark study of the process of amending the US Constitution. The Afterword discusses the many amendments, such those requiring a balanced federal budget or limiting the terms of members of Congress, that have been proposed since...

Acclaimed journalist Jeffrey Toobin takes us into the chambers of the most important—and secret—legal body in our country, the Supreme Court, revealing the complex dynamic among the nine people who decide the law of the land. An institution at a moment of transition, the Court now stands at a crucial point, with major changes in store on such issues as abortion, civil rights, and church-state relations. Based on exclusive interviews with the justices and with a keen sense of the Court’s hi...

**“With Supreme Inequality, Adam Cohen has built, brick by brick, an airtight case against the Supreme Court of the last half-century...Cohen’s book is a closing statement in the case against an institution tasked with protecting the vulnerable, which has emboldened the rich and powerful instead.” —Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor, SlateA revelatory examination of the conservative direction of the Supreme Court over the last fifty years.**In Supreme Ineq...

From the prizewinning author of The Nine, a gripping insider's account of the momentous ideological war between the John Roberts Supreme Court and the Obama administration.From the moment John Roberts, the chief justice of the United States, blundered through the Oath of Office at Barack Obama's inauguration, the relationship between the Supreme Court and the White House has been confrontational. Both men are young, brilliant, charismatic, charming, determ...

A "brilliant" examination of the growth of presidential power from George Washington to George W. Bush, by a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian ( Newsweek).Over the course of two centuries, the power of the president of the United States has grown exponentially. From George Washington to Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon to George W. Bush, presidential power has both served and harmed the US Constitution. But is the current role of the POTUS ...

"A lively read about the cracks in the system. What's more, it offers some good ideas for how we might go about fixing them." —Jelani Cobb, The New YorkerWhile many Americans despair of the current state of US politics, most assume that our system of government and democracy itself are invulnerable to decay. Yet when we examine the past, we find that the United States has undergone repeated crises of democracy, from the earliest days of the republic to the ...

"Sandra Day O'Connor takes you behind the closed doors of the Supreme Court to reveal how Justice O'Connor helped craft landmark decisions on abortion, affirmative action, and a host of other critical issues. Joan Biskupic has broken new ground in reporting on O'Connor's life and historic role on the high court. This lively, fast-paced account will make people rethink how they view this extraordinary woman and her fellow justices. An indispensable read for anyone interested in poli...

“A devastating, passionate takedown of Chief Justice John Roberts's Supreme Court by a Washington insider.” —Jane Mayer, author of Dark MoneyIn the last twenty years the US Supreme Court has radically curtailed voting rights, undermined anti-corruption measures, encouraged extreme political gerrymandering, restricted the regulation of guns, and obliterated the constitutional right to control one’s reproductive choices. This transformation was orchestrated ...

Named a best book of the year by The Economist and Foreign Affairs"A whole book devoted exclusively to the misconduct of American presidents and their responses to charges of misconduct is without precedent." —from the introduction to the 1974 edition by C. Vann Woodward, Pulitzer Prize–winning Yale historianThe historic 1974 report for the House Committee on the Judiciary, updated for today by leading presidential ...

The story of the behind-the-scenes political battle to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act: "Excellent . . . a highly readable play-by-play." — The AtlanticIt was a turbulent time in America—a time of sit-ins, freedom rides, a March on Washington, and a governor standing in the schoolhouse door—when John F. Kennedy sent Congress a bill to bar racial discrimination in employment, education, and public accommodations. Countless civil rights measures had died on Ca...