Confronting the Constitution: The Challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudism, Pragmatism, Existentialism…

With the communist nations a shambles everywhere, the American constitution may appear to have weathered its greatest challenge. Yet notions hostile to its principles pose no less serious threats. Ways of thinking that spring from the social sciences, for example, launch a direct assault on US traditions. This book addresses the question, can the constitution survive postconstitutional thought? The 17 essays in this volume examine first the precepts of the founding fathers and their mentors. Then the most significant postconstitutional ideas are outlined, together with analyses of how they harmonize with the constitution and how they undermine it. Bloom is author of The Closing of the American Mind .