Book Reviews and Notices : Understanding the Constitution. BY E. S. CORWIN AND JACK PELTASON. (New York: Wm. Sloane Associates. 1949. Pp. vii, 147. $1.35.)

• Date: 01 December 1949
• Author: Kenneth C. Cole
• Published date: 01 December 1949
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200449
• Subject Matter: Articles

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Understanding the Constitution. BY E. S. CORWIN AND JACK PELTASON.
(New York: Wm. Sloane Associates. 1949. Pp. vii, 147. $1.35.)
The authors of Understanding the Constitution explain that their
purpose will have been fulfilled if the volume &dquo;succeeds in giving its
readers a clear understanding of the document itself and an appreciation
of the important role which constitutional interpretation plays in the
conduct of our government.... &dquo;
It probably will, for it is simply and, at appropriate times, humorously
written. Moreover, the same method of expounding the same subject
matter has already been employed with marked success by the senior
of the two collaborators. True, the present effort is on a somewhat re-
duced scale, being only about half the heft of the 9th edition of The
Constitution and What It Means Today. Yet both are relatively short
section by section glosses on the document, likely to be of special value
in the teaching of introductory courses on the Constitution, or as sup-
plementary reading in connection with case book presentation.
Aside, therefore, from a few references to late civil rights cases
(which, incidentally, are particularly well done) there would seem to be
little point in turning to the present volume in preference to the older
one. It seems unlikely that Corwin and Peltason are trying to compete
with Corwin, but if they are they would seem...