If I could give "We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution" 10 stars, I absolutely would. I know, it's one of those hefty tomes that a lot of people shy away from, but trust me, every single page is worth it. It's a deep dive into the history of the Constitution, all its trials, and all its tribulations. You're getting this from the perspective of a seriously capable and well-informed historian, Jill Lepore, so you know you're learning a *lot*. The book covers everything from the Constit...

I listened to "We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution" hoping to get a better grasp on the U.S. Constitution and the ideas behind it. It feels pretty essential, given the political mess we're in right now, where it seems like the current administration is stomping all over the document every single day. Jill Lepore really covers a lot of ground, starting with how the Constitution came about and going all the way up to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The ability to amend the Constitut...

― “By far the most radical innovation of the U.S. Constitution, and of state constitutions, was the provision they made for their own repair and improvement by the people themselves, *to the end it may be a government of laws and not of men.*” This method for improvement is called amendment. In English, the verb *amend* goes back to the twelfth century, when it meant to correct a fault; to repair an omission, to fix what’s broken; or to improve in a moral sense: to make something better. The wo...

Let me stress how vital this book is. Understanding the history of one of the most significant documents ever created is incredibly important, particularly right now, making "We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution" by Jill Lepore a truly necessary and timely read. That being said, some parts of this book, FOR ME [and I should mention that I'm a history enthusiast who constantly seeks to learn and absorb more, often tackling material that's slightly beyond my grasp because how else do...

Any new book by Jill Lepore is cause for celebration. Her agile mind, command of history, felicity of expression, wit, and ability to make complicated topics understandable are evident in virtually everything she writes. These gifts are abundant in her newest work, "We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution." As the title suggests, the book is a companion piece to “These Truths,” published in 2018. That earlier work used the Declaration of Independence as a lens through which to analyze...

Jill Lepore's *We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution* is a lengthy (and I mean LENGTHY!) exploration of the U.S. Constitution, spanning from its inception to 2024. Lepore takes a sweeping approach, framing the work around the countless attempts to amend it: all 12,000 proposed amendments, and the diverse individuals and groups (formerly enslaved people, women, Native Americans, those on the right, those on the left, etc.) who championed them. *We the People: A History of the U.S. Con...

This non-fiction book delves into the US Constitution, its amendments, and how interpretations of this document have evolved from its inception to the present day. Adopted in 1787, *We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution* is often regarded as a sacred text, emulated by many and ingeniously crafted to maintain a balance of power for over two centuries. Yet, it's fascinating to learn that one of the Founding Fathers, Jefferson, wrote to Madison in 1789, stating that "no society can make...

3.5/5 stars. I know this is probably an unpopular opinion. While *We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution* by Jill Lepore is undeniably fascinating and important (and, sadly, very timely), I found it to be incredibly dense at times. Every single tiny detail is crammed into this book, making it a very slow read and, at least for me, obscuring the overall importance. When books are this packed, I sometimes wonder if I'm just not smart enough to understand what the author is trying to ach...

Jill Lepore, with her knack for weaving meticulously detailed history into a captivating narrative, has once again delivered a book that’s both enlightening and entertaining. As a lawyer, I was already familiar with much of the factual groundwork surrounding the Constitutional conventions and amendment process. However, Lepore still managed to delve deeper than I ever did in law school. What I found most engaging in **We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution** was the focus on the perso...

This book, "We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution" by Jill Lepore, took me a long time to read, not because it was too dense or badly written, but because I could only take so much of it at a time without becoming terribly depressed. Lepore approaches the history of the Constitution from the point of view of attempts to amend it, starting with the Bill of Rights and ending up in 2024 with the current world in which nobody is willing to try to amend it anymore. This is both extremely...