American Constitutional Law: Introductory Essays and Selected Cases

This book is *not* designed for casual readers of the law. However, it remains perhaps the most comprehensive review of American Constitutional history available in a single volume. This is still used on college campuses, and should be read by anyone who wants to peruse some of the central arguments that have shaped this country.

This a good book for undergraduates seeking to understand the Constitution and judicial decisions that shape the application of the Constitution. Very informative and easily read. But this is not a good book for pre-law or law students. The material is too cursory and there is no analysis of the cases.

I first used this text in the seventh edition (Mason, Beaney and Stephenson) in my undergraduate Constitutional Law class, and it has remained a constant resource for me. I have invested in two of the upgraded editions, including this latest 14th edition. Mason et al. has a wonderful style of combining accessible and interesting narrative essays with case law summaries and texts from rulings. The authors state in the preface that they see constitutional law development as 'an intricate blend of history and politics.' The Supreme Court functions in the real world (indeed, has a long-standing tradition of not deciding 'moot' cases, but rather only adjudicating in real life situations). The chapters rely heavily on case law and texts from decisions, but each chapter is introduced by an essay that sets tone, context, and highlights of particular interest. Where appropriate, the authors draw in texts from beyond case law - for example, in the chapter dealing with Congress, the Court and the Presidency, the authors bring in excerpts from the Federalist papers, and with the chapter on the development of due process, they excerpt Justice Cardozo's papers. This is a broadly sweeping text that covers the whole Constitution, each article of the primary text, various amendments dealing with governmental and procedural issues, and many chapters dealing with rights and liberties contained in both the Bill of Rights (first ten amendments) and other amendments. It includes indexes of cases, a good chart of Justices of the Supreme Court, and the full text of the Constitution and amendments. This is a book more intended for the student of political science or history who wishes to gain a better understanding of the processes and content of Constitutional Law at both the advanced undergraduate and graduate level. It may be useful as a secondary text in a law school's Constitutional Law class, also. It is not light reading, particularly in the case law sections, but the essays are worthwhile and can generally be read as stand-alone texts for those who want to get the broad overview without the case detail - however, beware of this approach, for the law and process is built on the details.

American Constitutional Law: Introductory Essays and Selected Cases by Alpheus Thomas Mason and Donald Grier Stephenson is a book that when read you'll find an intricate blend of history and politics.This is an excellent book for those studing constitutional law as there are plenty of case study with selected readings, queries, and key terms associated with each particular case. You'll get a real good dose of the constitution here and why decisions are the way they are at that time. Applying standards drawn from the constitution, the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbitor and guardian of individual privilege and governmental prerogative alike.This book gives the reader a broad understanding of the present with respect to the past and includes relevant extrajudicial material. A very good introductory book on American Constitutional Law.

For any student of American constitutional law, this book is the best exposition of the fundamentals of the U.S. Constitution and the Supreme Court. Further enquiry into the subject is not possible without an understanding of the ideas presented in this book.