Review: Fault Lines in the Constitution by Cynthia Levinson and Sanford Levinson

Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws That Affect Us Today by Cynthia Levinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Much like our nation itself, the Constitution is an imperfect object, created by imperfect men. Yet it strives to form a more perfect Union. The issues and disagreements we have today can be found in the Framers' earliest battles with each other. Fault Lines in the Constitution makes this clear with every page-turning chapter.

"It might be appealing to believe that, because the Constitution and our country have survived for this long, they'll always do so. But the Framers were not so confident."

I've never been more enthralled with the structure of a non-fiction book for young readers. The authors set events of our modern American life into the context of the blindspots and gaps in the Constitution itself. The document comes alive. We see the Constitution battle with everyday problems: the 2000 Presidential election vs. the electoral college, voter ID vs. the definition of who is a voter, the Ebola epidemic vs. Habeas Corpus, and many more.

Fault Lines in the Constitution is engaging and informative with a straight-forward writing style that makes complex concepts accessible. Importantly, it presents these issues as things that will need to be solved by our young readers.

The American drive to form a more perfect Union is a task without an end.

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