In a classic tale, Goldilocks discovered during her visit to the house of three
bears that porridge can be too hot or too cold, that chairs can be too big or too
small, and that beds can be too hard or too soft. Alternatively, they can be “just
right.” So, too, students and citizens seeking knowledge of the U.S. Constitution
discover that books can be too long or too short, too ponderous or too breezy, too
ideological or too lifeless. Contrariwise, they can be “just right.” I have designed
this book to fit into the “just right” category. To switch to an Aristotelian analogy, I have tried in this book to find a “golden mean” between serious scholarship
and reader accessibility in describing and explaining the U.S. Constitution, its
amendments, and its interpretations.