From the national legal director of the ACLU, an essential guidebook for anyone seeking to stand up for fundamental civil liberties and rights One of Washington Post's Notable Nonfiction Books of 2016 In an age of executive overreach, what role do American citizens have in safeguarding our Constitution and defending liberty? Must we rely on the federal courts, and the Supreme Court above all, to protect our rights? In Engines of Liberty, the esteemed legal scholar David Cole argues that we all have a part to play in the grand civic dramas of our era -- and in a revised introduction and conclusion, he proposes specific tactics for fighting Donald Trump's policies. Examining the most successful rights movements of the last thirty years, Cole reveals how groups of ordinary Americans confronting long odds have managed, time and time again, to convince the courts to grant new rights and protect existing ones. Engines of Liberty is a fundamentally new explanation of how our Constitution works and the part citizens play in it.

The author, founder and General Secretary of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), chronicles work and related events surrounding campaigns against several perpetrators of human rights violations around the world.

“Narrative, celebratory history at its purest” (Publishers Weekly)—the real story of how the Bill of Rights came to be: a vivid account of political strategy, big egos, and the partisan interests that set the terms of the ongoing contest between the federal government and the states. Those who argue that the Bill of Rights reflects the founding fathers’ “original intent” are wrong. The Bill of Rights was actually a brilliant political act executed by James Madison to preserve the Constitution, the federal government, and the latter’s authority over the states. In the skilled hands of award-winning historian Carol Berkin, the story of the founders’ fight over the Bill of Rights comes alive in a drama full of partisanship, clashing egos, and cunning manipulation. In 1789, the nation faced a great divide around a question still unanswered today: should broad power and authority reside in the federal government or should it reside in state governments? The Bill of Rights, from protecting religious freedom to the people’s right to bear arms, was a political ploy first and a matter of principle second. The truth of how and why Madison came to devise this plan, the debates it caused in the Congress, and its ultimate success is more engrossing than any of the myths that shroud our national beginnings. The debate over the Bill of Rights still continues through many Supreme Court decisions. By pulling back the curtain on the short-sighted and self-interested intentions of the founding fathers, Berkin reveals the anxiety many felt that the new federal government might not survive—and shows that the true “original intent” of the Bill of Rights was simply to oppose the Antifederalists who hoped to diminish the government’s powers. This book is “a highly readable American history lesson that provides a deeper understanding of the Bill of Rights, the fears that generated it, and the miracle of the amendments” (Kirkus Reviews).

Glannon Guide to Constitutional Law: Individual Rights and Liberties is a concise, clear, and effective review of Individual Rights and Liberties topics in Constitutional Law that is organized around multiple-choice questions. Brief explanatory text about a topic is followed by one or two multiple-choice questions. After each question, the author explains how the correct choice was identified thereby helping the student to review course content and at the same time learn how to analyze exam questions. Following the proven Glannon Guide format, this concise paperback: Integrates multiple-choice questions into a full-fledged review of a Constitutional Law/Individual Rights and Liberties course. Prepares students with an initial discussion of law to learn effectively from subsequent questions in the text. Provides clear explanations of correct and incorrect answers that help to clarify nuances in the law. Presents sophisticated but fair multiple-choice questions that are neither too difficult nor unrealistically straightforward. Is valuable to all students regardless of whether they will be tested by multiple-choice or essay questions on their exams. Embodies a far more user-friendly and interactive approach than other exam preparation aids. Illustrates a sophisticated problem in the area under discussion with a more challenging final question in each chapter (the "Closer" ). Provide practice and helpful review of concepts in earlier chapters with "Closing Closer" questions in the last chapter. Intersperses valuable exam-taking pointers throughout the text.

Contains primary source material.