Michael Klarman is a legal historian and constitutional law scholar whose work delves into the complex questions surrounding the American constitution. He examines pivotal moments in the history of American law and their impact on contemporary society. His writing is characterized by a deep understanding of historical context and a focus on legal reasoning.
Americans revere their Constitution. However, most of us are unaware how tumultuous and improbable the drafting and ratification processes were. Based on prodigious research and told largely through the voices of the participants, Michael Klarman's The Framers' Coup narrates how the Framers' clashing interests shaped the Constitution-and American history itself.
A monumental investigation of the Supreme Court's rulings on race, From Jim Crow To Civil Rights spells out in compelling detail the political and social context within which the Supreme Court Justices operate and the consequences of their decisions for American race relations. In a highly provocative interpretation of the decision's connection to the civil rights movement, Klarman argues that Brown was more important for mobilizing southern white opposition to racial change than for encouraging direct-action protest. Brown unquestioningly had a significant impact--it brought race issues to public attention and it mobilized supporters of the ruling. It also, however, energized the opposition. In this authoritative account of constitutional law concerning race, Michael Klarman details, in the richest and most thorough discussion to date, how and whether Supreme Court decisions do, in fact, matter.