The Constitution and US Democracy: A Reading List

As the first university press in the South, UNC Press pioneered in tackling issues of the day through the honest, and sometimes gritty, lens of reality, in order to challenge the status quo in a historically diverse and complex region. Our association with the oldest public university in the nation inspires in us a commitment to bring new and established peer-reviewed research to academic and general audiences—notably recognized for our publishing on US and world history—a mission that informs all we do.

Learn about the history of the US Constitution and democratic process in the United States through the following selection of UNC Press titles. Request them at your library, or order directly via uncpress.org and receive a 30% discount on print format books using promo code 01SOCIAL30.

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Jefferson, Madison, and the Making of the Constitution by Jeff Broadwater
“Broadwater offers a patient and balanced account of each man’s involvement in the revolutionary cause, from their education and initial forays in resistance politics down to the adoption of the Constitution.”—Reviews in American History

The Antifederalists: Critics of the Constitution, 1781-1788 by Jackson Turner Main
Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press
“This study of the Antifederalists is welcomed for its penetrating conclusions about the role of individuals, the content of their thought, and the means whereby they expressed their opposition to the projected American Constitution.”—American Historical Review

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today by David S. Brown
“It’s hard to imagine a better time for a few kind words on behalf of the moderate worldview—and we are fortunate to have them from [this] immoderately insightful new book”—Daniel Akst, Wall Street Journal

Americanism: New Perspectives on the History of an Ideal edited by Michael Kazin
and Joseph A. McCartin
“While each essay in the book is excellent and can stand alone, the whole is nonetheless greater than the sum of its parts. Almost every essay examines a familiar dimension of Americanism in a nuanced and original way, which effects a renewed appreciation of the complexity of Americanism as both a subject of scholarly inquiry and a facet of our daily lives.”—Journal of American History

Democracy Is Awkward: Grappling with Racism inside American Grassroots Political Organizing
by Michael Rosino
“Perfect for scholars, students, and organizers, Democracy Is Awkward is a genuine contribution to the field. With rich, engaging data, Rosino shows how organizations committed to social justice must themselves contend with the inequalities they aim to challenge in the world. His findings counter assumptions about antiracism as harmonious, instead showing that actual multiracial democracy is uncomfortable and messy or, in his words, ‘awkward.'”—Sarah Mayorga, Brandeis University

Interpreting the Free Exercise of Religion: The Constitution and American Pluralism
by Bette Novit Evans
“Evans examines the development of the Court’s jurisprudence during the twentieth century and particularly during recent decades and demonstrates how difficult the task of constructing a uniform and consistent policy has proved to be. Her incisive and commanding analysis ends with a plea for a pluralist approach.”—American Studies

Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity edited by Richard Beeman, Stephen Botein, and Edward C. Carter II
Published by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and the University of North Carolina Press
“This excellent collection offers well-written, updated, scholarly interpretations of the constitutional era by some of the leading authorities in the field.”—Journal of American History

Between Authority and Liberty: State Constitution-making in Revolutionary America by Marc W. Kruman
“In this thoughtful book Kruman argues effectively that American constitutionalism’s characteristic commitment to individual rights, broad suffrage, equal representation, separation of powers, and mixed government was clearly pronounced in the state constitutions created over a decade earlier at the time independence was first being declared. Consequently, Kruman’s work deserves the serious attention of anyone examining the origins and development of the American constitutional republic.”—Law and History Review

Lincoln and the Triumph of the Nation: Constitutional Conflict in the American Civil War
by Mark E. Neely Jr.
“A meticulous study of Civil War-era constitutionalism, a complex and multifaceted book that will reward multiple readings to understand fully its meaning and implications. . . . Constitutional and political history at its finest.”—Journal of American History