Reviving the Constitution: Thomas E. Woods and Kevin R.C. Gutzman's important book Who Killed the Constitution? chronicles the Supreme Court's attacks on the Constitution.(Book review)

Who Killed the Constitution?: The Fate of American Liberty from World War I to George W. Bush, by Thomas E. Woods and Kevin R.C. Gutzman, New York: Random House/Crown Forum, 2008, 259 pages, hardcover.

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Dr. Thomas Woods is a prolific writer who is perhaps best known for writing the first of the "Politically Incorrect Guide ..." books in the popular series published by Regnery. His 2004 treatise about American history appeared on the New York Times best-seller list and its success spawned a full bookshelf of imitators issuing additional "Guides."

He has now teamed up with Western Connecticut State University American history professor Kevin Gutzman in the 259-page Who Killed the Constitution? While there is much valuable and suppressed history in the book, its title is disconcerting. The Constitution is certainly under attack, but to claim it is "killed" is an unnecessary stretch. The conclusion these two Ph.D.s have reached in their title is emphasized and repeated. Early in their book they write, "The Constitution is already dead. It died a long time ago." And they begin their concluding chapter by saying: "The Constitution is dead. That blunt but unavoidable truth should be clear by now."

Is there no hope whatsoever? The authors explain, "Thomas Jefferson ... knew that if the federal government had a monopoly on constitutional interpretation, it would naturally read the Constitution in its own favor. He insisted that the states ... were entitled to make constitutional determinations, because the only alternative was a central government monopoly that in the end would swallow up the states." Because they see states' rights as dead, they maintain there is hardly a glimmer of hope that the Constitution retains some life.

However, they do actually offer a faint glimmer. In the book's final paragraph, we read: "Nonetheless, the Constitution can still serve a purpose, as it remains a useful bludgeon to employ against government power grabs. By calling attention to what the Constitution really says, we can alert the people to just how consistently and dramatically their fundamental law has been betrayed. What they do with that knowledge is up to the American people themselves to decide." (Emphasis added.) In other words, the people can still ...