Awards

• Long-listed for ALA Carnegie Medal 2026

Overview

The U.S. Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world—and one of the most difficult to amend. At what cost? In this landmark, lavishly illustrated book, Harvard professor of history and law Jill Lepore argues that the philosophy of amendment is foundational to American constitutionalism. Challenging both originalism and the Supreme Court’s monopoly on constitutional interpretation, Lepore argues that the framers never intended for the Constitution to be kept, like a butterfly, under glass but instead expected that future generations would be forever tinkering with it, improving the machinery of government. In a radical account, Lepore offers a sweeping, lyrical and democratic constitutional history, telling the stories of generations of Americans who have attempted everything from abolishing the Electoral College to guaranteeing environmental rights, hoping to mend America by amending its constitution.

Full Product Details

9781631496080

Table of Contents

Reviews

A comprehensive, inclusive history of the creation of the United States Constitution and its subsequent journey as an amendable document. Lepore mostly discusses the document's revision, updating, and improvement, which keeps the narrative focused. The research presents a refreshing context for the political battles that propel amendments forward; the rights of women, enslaved people, and Confederates are handled with equal care. The section showcasing the history of Hawai'i feels revelatory, as it's not usually included in conversations about the Constitution. The definitions for understanding the difference between a federalist versus an antifederalist are clear, and the definitive tone carries through the coverage of suffrage, changes for child labor, and the influence of Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. The charts listing when amendments were proposed and by whom is a concise way to understand each era being examined. The history of the Equal Rights Amendment and FDR's attempts to restructure the Supreme Court will be of keen interest to modern readers. Essential reading for all Americans; a great fit for public library collections.--Tina Panik, Library Journal, starred review It is impossible to imagine a more instructive text on a more timely subject by a more accomplished historian.--Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny The noted historian advances the cause of an aggressively, and progressively, malleable set of rules for government . . . With the Constitution under daily threat, Lepore's outstanding book makes for urgent reading.--Kirkus Reviews, starred review An extraordinary and inspiring achievement. Lepore offers a whole new understanding of constitutional change. It's a triumph of the head and the heart.--Cass R. Sunstein, Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard Law School, and author of How to Interpret the Constitution In this remarkably engaging and deeply researched work, one of America's most important living historians illuminates the most vital quality of our Constitution: its capacity for renewal.--Pete Buttigieg, former secretary of transportation Jill Lepore's lyrical journey through the history of the Constitution brings its eminently amendable state to life in vivid and inspiring detail and delivers it to us, the living, for further repairs and improvements.--Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor, Harvard, and author of Justice by Means of Democracy Not only an historian with prodigious powers of original research and integrative genius, not only a spellbinding writer with a golden pen, Jill Lepore is a preacher at an open-air American revival meeting: she will tell you a gripping and unfamiliar story of our own past that destroys your complacency and makes you reimagine what is possible for the secular miracle that is America.--Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-8th District), ranking member, U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee A pulsating, at times astonishing journey through Americans' never-ending efforts to form a more perfect union. We the People is essential reading for anyone who cares about self-government under the Constitution.--Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law, Columbia Law School, and author of How Rights Went Wrong

Lepore's sweeping, urgent history - which begins in the Revolutionary era and concludes in our current moment - focuses on amendment as a tool to realize the Constitution's promise. But given that the Constitution hasn't been meaningfully amended since 1971, the book also issues a warning: that political violence and authoritarianism are more likely when our founding charter is unable to evolve with the times.--Barbara Spindel ""Christian Science Monitor"" To build a durable foundation for a house, you'll want to use the kinds of materials that resist change -- concrete, say, or steel rebar. But a foundation for a country is another beast entirely. In Lepore's latest book, a hefty volume heavy on historical detail, the Harvard professor and New Yorker staff writer makes the timely case that the strength and stability of America's founding document, particularly in times of great stress, reside first and foremost in its capacity for adaptation.--Colin Dwyer ""NPR"" One of the year's most engaging reads, an epic profile of the strange, often contradictory life and interpretation of the document guiding this nation.--Christopher Borelli ""Chicago Tribune"" An arresting chronicle of Americans striving--if sometimes failing--to remake their republic.-- ""The Economist"" In her characteristically lively history of the U.S. Constitution, Lepore argues that the document's capacity for amendment was not only central to the founders' political thinking but essential to its ratification.... Lepore's passionate denunciation of this theory of constitutional interpretation paints it as one of the ""stranger paradoxes"" of American constitutional history.--Jessica T. Mathews ""Foreign Affairs"" [A] galvanizing and paradigm-shifting take on America's slow descent into plutocracy.--Publishers Weekly, starred review In this remarkably engaging and deeply researched work, one of America's most important living historians illuminates the most vital quality of our Constitution: its capacity for renewal.--Pete Buttigieg, former United States Secretary of Transportation A comprehensive, inclusive history of the creation of the United States Constitution and its subsequent journey as an amendable document. Lepore mostly discusses the document's revision, updating, and improvement, which keeps the narrative focused. The research presents a refreshing context for the political battles that propel amendments forward; the rights of women, enslaved people, and Confederates are handled with equal care. The section showcasing the history of Hawai'i feels revelatory, as it's not usually included in conversations about the Constitution. The definitions for understanding the difference between a federalist versus an antifederalist are clear, and the definitive tone carries through the coverage of suffrage, changes for child labor, and the influence of Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. The charts listing when amendments were proposed and by whom is a concise way to understand each era being examined. The history of the Equal Rights Amendment and FDR's attempts to restructure the Supreme Court will be of keen interest to modern readers. Essential reading for all Americans; a great fit for public library collections.--Tina Panik, Library Journal, starred review It is impossible to imagine a more instructive text on a more timely subject by a more accomplished historian.--Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny The noted historian advances the cause of an aggressively, and progressively, malleable set of rules for government . . . With the Constitution under daily threat, Lepore's outstanding book makes for urgent reading.--Kirkus Reviews, starred review An extraordinary and inspiring achievement. Lepore offers a whole new understanding of constitutional change. It's a triumph of the head and the heart.--Cass R. Sunstein, Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard Law School, and author of How to Interpret the Constitution Jill Lepore's lyrical journey through the history of the Constitution brings its eminently amendable state to life in vivid and inspiring detail and delivers it to us, the living, for further repairs and improvements.--Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor, Harvard, and author of Justice by Means of Democracy Not only an historian with prodigious powers of original research and integrative genius, not only a spellbinding writer with a golden pen, Jill Lepore is a preacher at an open-air American revival meeting: she will tell you a gripping and unfamiliar story of our own past that destroys your complacency and makes you reimagine what is possible for the secular miracle that is America.--Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-8th District), ranking member, U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Lepore, who is also a staff writer at The New Yorker, opts to tell the constitution through the stories of a much wider variety of Americans.... Among the most vivid characters are the last queen of Hawaii, Lili?uokalani, who oversaw her islands' first constitution, and Charles Beard, who reshaped public opinion in the 1910s by claiming that the US constitution's authors were economically motivated.... Lepore worries that the US government as we know it may be facing a final end game. She asks, 'How long can or should a constitution last?'... Today, as a fight rages over the balance of power among the president, Congress, the court and what used to be known as the independent agencies, this is far from an academic question.--Brooke Masters ""Financial Times"" A new Lepore book is big news. In 2018 she enjoyed bestselling success with These Truths, an inclusive American history. We the People looks and reads like a sequel.... We the People contains compelling accounts of the constitutional convention, the road to ratification, the Reconstruction amendments after the civil war, the 19th amendment securing votes for women, the rise of the reactionary right and the slow death of the amendment process.... As ever, Lepore writes with literary flair, offering striking character studies, often of Americans who fought for change but are now largely forgotten.--Martin Pengelly ""The Guardian"" In We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution, Jill Lepore, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, cites these and other examples to convincingly argue that a sclerotic Constitution has made it nearly impossible for the nation to tackle deeply entrenched problems.... Making extensive use of the Amendments Project, Lepore's archive of every major proposed amendment, We the People is most illuminating when it unearths long-ignored but prescient provisions that sprang from groups excluded from the body politic.... We the People makes a compelling case for the need to institute constitutional reforms and steer away from a system heavily reliant on the actions of a hyper-politicized Supreme Court.--Michael Bobelian ""Washington Post"" As the Harvard historian and New Yorker writer Jill Lepore explains in We the People, her startling and innovative recasting of Americans' intermittently successful, but now increasingly futile, efforts to change the country's basic laws, the struggle over the E.R.A. is just one recent eddy in a long current of discontent with the U.S. Constitution and its forebears....While her account touches on these familiar landmarks, it also decenters them, drawing attention instead to the repeated attempts to enlarge what was meant by ""People"" in the country's most foundational laws.... Each of her book's 13 chapters offers a vivid portrait of mostly unfamiliar voices of constitutional demurral from this archive and beyond.... Left hanging in the air at the end of this rewarding book is a dark question: At what cost have we abandoned amendment?--Aziz Z. Huq ""New York Times Book Review"" Her 15th book, We the People, a history of the U.S. Constitution, may be her best yet, a capacious work that lands at the right moment, like a life buoy, as our ship of state takes on water.... With We the People, Lepore has composed a companion piece to These Truths, her 2018 dash across U.S. history, but her latest work is the stronger book by an order of magnitude.... Lepore senses peril but also a whiff of democratic revival. Asymmetries lie at the foundation of our government; as this gifted scholar reminds us, it's our duty to tend to them.--Hamilton Cain ""Los Angeles Times"" A pulsating, at times astonishing journey through Americans' never-ending efforts to form a more perfect union. We the People is essential reading for anyone who cares about self-government under the Constitution.--Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law, Columbia Law School, and author of How Rights Went Wrong

""In this remarkably engaging and deeply researched work, one of America’s most important living historians illuminates the most vital quality of our Constitution: its capacity for renewal."" -- Pete Buttigieg, former secretary of transportation ""A pulsating, at times astonishing journey through Americans’ never-ending efforts to form a more perfect union. We the People is essential reading for anyone who cares about self-government under the Constitution."" -- Jamal Greene, Dwight Professor of Law, Columbia Law School, and author of How Rights Went Wrong ""Jill Lepore’s lyrical journey through the history of the Constitution brings its eminently amendable state to life in vivid and inspiring detail and delivers it to us, the living, for further repairs and improvements."" -- Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor, Harvard, and author of Justice by Means of Democracy ""An extraordinary and inspiring achievement. Lepore offers a whole new understanding of constitutional change. It’s a triumph of the head and the heart."" -- Cass R. Sunstein, Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard Law School, and author of How to Interpret the Constitution ""Not only an historian with prodigious powers of original research and integrative genius, not only a spellbinding writer with a golden pen, Jill Lepore is a preacher at an open-air American revival meeting: she will tell you a gripping and unfamiliar story of our own past that destroys your complacency and makes you reimagine what is possible for the secular miracle that is America."" -- Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-8th District), ranking member, U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee

Author Information

Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and professor of law at Harvard Law School. She is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her many books include the international bestseller These Truths: A History of the United States. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available