A valuable reference to understanding your freedoms. An authoritative guide to American freedoms. Uncluttered and well-organized, this text is perfect for those who want to study up on the Bill of Rights without needing a law degree to do so.

In this pocket-sized volume, Akhil Reed Amar and Les Adams offer Americans a wealth of knowledge about the Bill of Rights that goes beyond a basic understanding. This elementary guidebook presents a short historical survey of the people, events, decrees, legislation, writings, and cultural milestones, in England and the American colonies, that influenced the Founding Fathers as they drafted the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.


Important points are summarized in short notes at the side of the text.
To present an uncluttered page that’s easy to read, all reference and quotation sources are placed in a separate section of notes at the end of the book.
Throughout the book, we have tried to provide synonyms for most of the fancy words that lawyers and scholars sometimes use and for obsolete words or words that no longer mean what their writers intended. However, since the Bill of Rights, is, after all, a legal and historical document, to discuss it adequately we simply cannot avoid the use of some legal or scholarly words and expressions for which there are no adequate synonyms. Therefore, we have provided a short glossary on page 389. (It might assist your comprehension if you briefly review this glossary before you begin reading the text.)
Also at the back of the book are three reference sections: biographical profiles of all notable figures discussed or quoted in the text; endnotes; and an index.
The work is designed in a pocket-size format for easy reference.


With helpful comments and fun facts in the margins, the book will provide a deeper understanding of the Bill of Rights, exhibiting that it is not a stagnant document but one with an evolving meaning shaped by historical events, such as the American Civil War and Reconstruction.

The authors have provided a glossary to aid in understanding, as well as three reference sections for those willing to continue on in their pursuit for knowledge.