IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY

The Bill of Rights is not a dusty, old document for dreary study in school, but a living document ever relevant to our lives. Birth control, abortion, drug searches, civil rights, book censorship, gun control, war protests, and terrorism are issues as fresh as today’s newspaper, and they come alive in this excellent companion to the author’s Give Me Liberty! (2000). He devotes a chapter to each of the Ten Amendments and Supreme Court cases testing the laws, and an additional chapter explores how the 14th Amendment guarantees “equal protection of the laws” and defines national citizenship. Thorough as he is in his attention to detail and documentation, Freedman never forgets he’s telling a story. In clear, lively prose—supported by photographs, newspaper excerpts, engravings, and etchings—he tells the human stories behind the court cases. The index to Supreme Court cases and how to find them online is a valuable guide for researchers. The best resource available on the subject for young readers and essential for libraries and classrooms. (Nonfiction. 10+)