LUDLOW, Vt. – The Book Nook and The Fletcher Memorial Library invite all readers to join our lively nonfiction book club for a discussion of professor Akhil Reed Amar’s “Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840–1920.” The discussion will take place on Wednesday, April 29, at 5 p.m., at the Fletcher Memorial Library, 88 Main Street in Ludlow, Vt.
In “Born Equal,” Amar continues his legal and political history of the United States by focusing on the time leading up to the Civil War and its aftermath. Its narrative includes great American leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Abraham Lincoln.
Jeff Shesolin, of the New York Times, describes the strengths of the book, saying, “Amar’s treatment of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, among other episodes, showcases his expertise. Rather than simply recount the back and forth, he uses it as a prompt to consider 10 interpretations of ‘created equal’ – from the narrowest, which holds that the phrase was just misleading rhetoric, to the most expansive, that government has a duty to provide ‘a fair chance’ to all, as Lincoln later put it. Amar is similarly effective in showing how the 1848 Seneca Falls declaration responded to the Declaration of Independence.”
Copies of “Born Equal” are available at The Book Nook at a discount, and at the Fletcher Memorial Library for lending.
All are welcome to join the discussion. Please RSVP by calling 802-228-3238 or emailing scott@thebooknookvt.com.