Title
American Epic: Reading The U.S. Constitution,New
Delivery time: 8-12 business days (International)
In 1987, E.L. Doctorow celebrated the Constitution's bicentennial by reading it. 'It is five thousand words long but reads like fifty thousand,' he said. Distinguished legal scholar Garrett Eppshimself an awardwinning novelistdisagrees. It's about 7,500 words. And Doctorow 'missed a good deal of high rhetoric, many literary tropes, and even a trace of, if not wit, at least irony,' he writes. Americans may venerate the Constitution, 'but all too seldom is it read.'In American Epic, Epps takes us through a complete reading of the Constitutioneven the 'boring' partsto achieve an appreciation of its power and a holistic understanding of what it says. In this book he seeks not to provide a definitive interpretation, but to listen to the language and ponder its meaning. He draws on four modes of reading: scriptural, legal, lyric, and epic. The Constitution's first three words, for example, sound spiritualbut Epps finds them to be more aspirational than prayerlike. 'Prayers are addressed to someone . . . either an earthly king or a divine lord, and great care is taken to name the addressee. . . . This does the reverse. The speaker is 'the people,' the words addressed to the world at large.' He turns the Second Amendment into a poem to illuminate its ambiguity. He notices oddities and omissions. The Constitution lays out rules for presidential appointment of officers, for example, but not removal. Should the Senate approve each firing? Can it withdraw its 'advice and consent' and force a resignation? And he challenges himself, as seen in his surprising discussion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in light of Article 4, which orders states to give 'full faith and credit' to the acts of other states.Wry, original, and surprising, American Epic is a scholarly and literary tour de force.
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Shipping & Returns
Shipping
We ship your order within 2–3 business days for USA deliveries and 5–8 business days for international shipments. Once your package has been dispatched from our warehouse, you'll receive an email confirmation with a tracking number, allowing you to track the status of your delivery.
Returns
To facilitate a smooth return process, a Return Authorization (RA) Number is required for all returns. Returns without a valid RA number will be declined and may incur additional fees. You can request an RA number within 15 days of the original delivery date. For more details, please refer to our Return & Refund Policy page.
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This warranty strictly does not cover damages that arose from negligence, misuse, wear and tear, or not in accordance with product instructions (dropping the product, etc.).
Warranty
We provide a 2-year limited warranty, from the date of purchase for all our products.
If you believe you have received a defective product, or are experiencing any problems with your product, please contact us.
This warranty strictly does not cover damages that arose from negligence, misuse, wear and tear, or not in accordance with product instructions (dropping the product, etc.).
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Your payment information is processed securely. We do not store credit card details nor have access to your credit card information.
We accept payments with :
Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Paypal, Shopify Payments, Shop Pay and more.