Reflection on The Law of the Land: A Grand Tour of Our Constitutional Republic by Akhil Reed Amar

               This book is the third in a long series that Amar is writing about the constitution using different perspectives. I didn’t realize that until he mentioned it at the end of this book, when I found out that the one other book I had read by him was the first in the series. This book starts each chapter by discussing one state’s connection with a constitutional concept and explores a lot of different ideas that have been debated in our country’s nearly 250-year history. It was pretty cool, though not as engaging as the first book in the series. I found myself a little bored with it by the end. My problem is that the book lacked any central, unifying theme. It covered lots of different aspects of constitutional law, but quickly changed subject every 20-odd pages, making it hard to follow and really get into. I think I’ll give it four out of five stars, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I will still be interested in reading more of Amar’s work though. He writes with a lot of clarity.