{"title":"R. B. Bernstein","description":"R. B. Bernstein is lecturer in political science, City College of New York, and distinguished adjunct professor of law, New York Law School. He has written, edited, or co-edited two dozen books on American constitutional and legal history, including Thomas Jefferson (OUP, 2003).","products":[{"product_id":"the-founding-fathers-a-very-short-introduction-paperback","title":"The Founding Fathers: A Very Short Introduction - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Founding Fathers\u003c\/em\u003e is a concise, accessible overview of the brilliant, flawed, and quarrelsome group of lawyers, politicians, merchants, military men, and clergy known as \"the Founding Fathers\"--who got as close to the ideal of the Platonic \"philosopher-kings\" as American or world history has ever seen. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eR. B. Bernstein reveals Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, and the other founders not as shining demigods but as imperfect human beings--people much like us--who nevertheless achieved political greatness. They emerge here as men who sought to transcend their intellectual world even as they were bound by its limits, men who strove to lead the new nation even as they had to defer to the great body of the people and learn with them the possibilities and limitations of politics. Bernstein deftly traces the dynamic forces that molded these men and their contemporaries as British colonists in North America and as intellectual citizens of the Atlantic civilization's Age of Enlightenment. He analyzes the American Revolution, the framing and adoption of state and federal constitutions, and the key concepts and problems that both shaped and circumscribed the founders' achievements as the United States sought its place in the world. Finally, he charts the shifting reputations of the founders and examines the specific ways that interpreters of the Constitution have used the Founding Fathers. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA masterly blend of old and new scholarship, brimming with apt description and insightful analysis, this book offers a digestible account of how the Founding Fathers were formed, what they did, and how generations of Americans have viewed them. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eABOUT THE SERIES: \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eVery Short Introductions\u003c\/em\u003e series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51365696241887,"sku":"9780190273514","price":14.02,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/z094p8wGLF9780190273514.webp?v=1789070103"},{"product_id":"alexander-hamilton-a-very-short-introduction-paperback","title":"Alexander Hamilton: A Very Short Introduction - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is a brief introduction to the life, thought, work, and legacy of Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), but it is not a traditional biography. Public curiosity about Hamilton, his life, and his work has swelled, particularly among those intrigued by popular-culture portrayals in the Broadway musical \u003cem\u003eHamilton: An American Musical\u003c\/em\u003e. This book presents a summary of Hamilton's life and explores his role in revolution, constitutionalism, economics, diplomacy, and war, as well as his relationship to honor culture and duelling. The epilogue considers Hamilton's legacies. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe book considers Hamilton as a key founding father, focusing on his work as a politician, a constitutional thinker, and the nation's first secretary of the treasury. In that role, Hamilton was perhaps the leading American domestic policy-maker and nationalist. He led the effort to write the brilliant defense and exposition of the Constitution, The Federalist, and later, as treasury secretary, he pioneered efforts to interpret the Constitution broadly, as a generous grant of national power to the government of the United States. As part of that effort, he also pioneered expositions of the Constitution as a source of executive and judicial power. In addition, as a leading figure in the American world of honor culture, Hamilton was also a principal exponent of political combat in defense of personal and political honor. As such, he was a tragic victim of the honor culture he did so much to establish as a component of national politics, dying as the result of a mortal wound he suffered in his 1804 duel with Aaron Burr, his longtime antagonist and Vice President of the United States. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThough not often an admired political figure in his own time, Hamilton was perhaps the leading and most enthusiastic exponent of American constitutional nationalism. In the more than two centuries since his death in 1804, Hamilton has continued to be the principal advocate of a nationalist reading of US constitutionalism.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51368482210015,"sku":"9780190082017","price":14.02,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/WH_PZwhwHb9780190082017.webp?v=1789128506"},{"product_id":"hamilton-the-energetic-founder-hardcover","title":"Hamilton: The Energetic Founder - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eHamilton: The Energetic Founder, \u003c\/em\u003eR. B. Bernstein provides a thorough history that reveals Hamilton's status as one of the key founding fathers of the United States. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cem\u003eHamilton: The Energetic Founder \u003c\/em\u003eis a brief introduction to the life, thought, work, and legacy of Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), but it is not a traditional biography. Public curiosity about Hamilton, his life, and his work has swelled, particularly among those intrigued by popular-culture portrayals in the Broadway musical \u003cem\u003eHamilton: An American Musical\u003c\/em\u003e. This book presents a summary of Hamilton's life and explores his role in revolution, constitutionalism, economics, diplomacy, and war, as well as his relationship to honor culture and duelling. The epilogue considers Hamilton's legacies. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe book considers Hamilton as a key founding father, focusing on his work as a politician, a constitutional thinker, and the nation's first secretary of the treasury. In that role, Hamilton was perhaps the leading American domestic policy-maker and nationalist. He led the effort to write the brilliant defense and exposition of the Constitution, The Federalist, and later, as treasury secretary, he pioneered efforts to interpret the Constitution broadly, as a generous grant of national power to the government of the United States. As part of that effort, he also pioneered expositions of the Constitution as a source of executive and judicial power. In addition, as a leading figure in the American world of honor culture, Hamilton was also a principal exponent of political combat in defense of personal and political honor. As such, he was a tragic victim of the honor culture he did so much to establish as a component of national politics, dying as the result of a mortal wound he suffered in his 1804 duel with Aaron Burr, his longtime antagonist and Vice President of the United States. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThough not often an admired political figure in his own time, Hamilton was perhaps the leading and most enthusiastic exponent of American constitutional nationalism. In the more than two centuries since his death in 1804, Hamilton has continued to be the principal advocate of a nationalist reading of US constitutionalism.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51369749512415,"sku":"9780190081980","price":21.58,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/eBpofPZeSr9780190081980.webp?v=1789146064"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/r-b-bernstein.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}