In the News, November 2025
Posted 10.21.25: “This second volume of a planned trilogy offers another beguiling example of Amar's unique blend of constitutional legal analysis, history, and political science, all delivered in a fluid narrative style. He seeks to reveal what the Constitution “really means” by tracing the changes in the meaning of the Declaration of Independence's fundamental but potentially contentious claim that “all men are created equal.”... Readers will close this volume with a richer knowledge of the history of this period and a deepened understanding of the once and future meanings of “all men are created equal.”—Jessica T. Mathews, Foreign Affairs, on Born Equal: Remaking America's Constitution, 1840–1920 by Akhil Amar.
Posted 10.09.25: “What Was Best About the ‘Best American Poetry'? After four decades, the annual book series is drawing to a close. Our columnist looks at what it all meant: I wonder if there has ever been more equivocation about the word ‘best' and its meaning outside of the front matter of ‘Best American Poetry'—or ‘BAP,' for short—an annual selection of 75 poems from U.S. periodicals that has now, after 40 volumes, reached its conclusion. Conceived by David Lehman, who is retiring the series, the title has vexed many guest editors over the years. They've expressed ambivalence, suspicion and revulsion to the idea itself.... But ‘best' is there in the name.... ‘BAP' intros are given to lists of forms and subjects, to illustrate the range therein. I used to love these anthologies for showing me what kinds of poems are possible: poems as models for being a poet. Now when I revisit them—the second The Best of The Best American Poetry (25th Anniversary Edition), edited by Robert Pinsky in 2013, is a favorite—I read with a rather more urgent desire to see what experience is possible: poems as models for being, full stop.”—Elisa Gabbert, The New York Times Book Review, Oct. 3, 2025
Posted 10.01.25: “The style of Carpet Diem: Tales from the World of Oriental Rugs is quite different from that of other rug books I know. It's remarkably readable, and it's fun.... Carpet Diem is certainly entertaining, but it also describes the nuts and bolts of the carpet world, the business side of the oriental carpet trade, in a way I had not seen previously. I learned about small auctions and consignment shops and antiques fairs, about how to bargain effectively.... The book is informative. And above all, it's a pleasure. I loved it.”—Tom Farnham, Compass Interview, Hali Magazine
Posted 09.23.25: “Born Equal: Remaking America's Constitution, 1840–1920 is the second volume of Akhil Amar's grand trilogy, a constitutional history of the United States. This is a bold and ambitious project. As Akhil stated in his first volume, we have multitudes of books on this and that constitutional issue, narrow monographs that never see beyond their particular subject or particular period. But we have precious few treatments of our constitutional history that are wide-angled and multigenerational and that sweep over the entire exciting 250-year history of our constitutional struggles.... Akhil's history is selective, and his criterion of selection is the constitutional importance of the person or the event. His technique is brilliant.... He can combine both narrative movement and deep analysis.... It is the most extraordinary kind of history that I have read, using key events, key dates, and maps, especially maps, to illuminate the history of the nation.... Akhil finds connections in our past that other historians have missed, and his statements are often electrifying.... 1840 to 1920 was an amazing period for constitutional history, and Akhil has captured all the dynamism of those eighty years in this wonderful volume. It is a fitting successor to his first volume The Words That Made Us. In this second volume of this great trilogy, he has paid tribute to the power of equality in our political and constitutional lives as no other historian ever has. I congratulate him on its publication.”—Gordon Wood, The Rosenkranz Originalism Conference at Yale Law School, Sept. 19, 2025
Posted 09.12.25: “Profiles of such Americans form the heart of Akhil Amar's landmark Born Equal: Remaking America's Constitution, 1840–1920. In this, the second part of a planned trilogy on the history of American self-government, the Yale law professor discusses the actions of families, groups of friends, civic organizations and, yes, politicians. It is a thorough and vivid account of those who toiled to help bring about Lincoln's new birth of freedom before, during and after the Civil War. Born Equal, like Mr. Amar's larger trilogy, is an ambitious attempt to teach constitutional history not through a series of Supreme Court decisions and doctrines but through the people's own debates and decisions.... This new volume focuses on how the best minds of the ‘Second Founding' generation saved the Union and improved the Constitution. Mr. Amar continues his documentary approach, filling his book with the artwork, cartoons, maps, literature and photographs that, in his view, show how a people's constitution is actually made and remade....Mr. Amar presents a much richer, more colorful and ultimately more compelling account of American political history.”—Adam White, The Wall Street Journal
Posted 02.06.25: “An enthralling and unsettling distillation of medicine's repeated adoption of bad science. Most of these failures are well known and well documented elsewhere, but Makary ties them together to great effect.... Makary wants to disrupt the way medicine is delivered by asking better research questions.... This is a passionate, well-argued and thought-provoking read, but what makes it essential is that Makary is not a dreamer on the sidelines, but Donald Trump's pick to be the next commissioner of the FDA, an agency he has previously criticised.”—Phil Hammond, The Times (UK) on Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health by Marty Makary
Posted 01.19.25: A Best Book of 2024! The Economist magazine chose Origin Story: The Trials of Charles Darwin by Howard Markel one of the "Best Books of 2024": "Books about Charles Darwin are at no risk of going extinct. Yet by making its centrepiece a consequential debate in 1860—in which evolution triumphed over creationism—this book offers something welcome and new."
Posted 12.13.24: "Begun in 1988 with a volume guest-edited by John Ashbery, The Best American Poetry (BAP) series has been running for a startling 36 years and counting.... The list of editors is a who's who of US poetry elites. And behind it all, the poet David Lehman, the series editor, has labored quietly and diligently ensuring its continuity and continued relevance.... The guiding hand of Lehman ensures a certain base-level of quality. Every year will have its new-discovered gems, its duds, its stars, and, often enough, its brief but vitriolic controversies played out across social media. You might think such a long-running series would have played out its initial energies, but I think I can say with some confidence that Mary Jo Salter's 2024 volume is the best volume in a decade, and arguably the best BAP volume ever produced.... Salter's volume fizzes with the potential of debut poets, the sprezzatura of journeyman accomplishment, and the depth of old masters."—A. E. Stallings on The Best American Poetry 2024.
Posted 12.12.24: "Every political appointee in the new administration across all agencies and departments and the 115,000 career employees who work for DOJ ought to read this stellar intellectual history of the Meese era at Justice. Certainly, every serious member of the Federalist Society will, and every member of every law school faculty ought to do so.... A wonderfully complete portrait of an indispensable public servant and aide to Reagan. Meese is the equal of anyone in any administration in modern times when it comes to character and modesty, generosity of spirit, and resolve to keep the Constitution at the center of our Republic's functioning. Do read it." — Hugh Hewitt, The Washington Free Beacon, on The Meese Revolution: The Making of a Constitutional Moment by Steven Gow Calabresi and Gary Lawson
Posted 11.24.24: Marty Makary, M.D., author of Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health, will be the newly appointed head of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). His most recent work was a New York Times Best Seller and an Amazon "Best Nonfiction Book of 2024." A starred Publishers Weekly review called Blind Spots, “Incisive and damning, this is a much-needed wake-up call.”
Posted 11.24.24: Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Dirda on The Best American Poetry 2024, Guest Editor, Mary Jo Salter: "Do not overlook the introductory essay by Salter...or the piece by the series' general editor, David Lehman, which concludes with wise advice to poets just starting out."—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World
Posted 11.24.24: "When patients turn to professional societies like the AMA or the American College of Physicians or the American Association of Pediatrics for vital health information, one might expect that the information is based on publications in prestigious medical journals of carefully designed and meticulously interpreted studies. Dr. Marty Makary, in his book Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health, shows how wrong these assumptions can be.... Makary proves his case against groupthink in medicine.... Readers will find this book interesting if they have not had much of a background in biomedical science. It is clear, concise, and well-documented. They may ask a few more questions at their yearly checkup, and that is a good thing." — Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, Washington Free Beacon
Posted 11.13.24: An Amazon "Best Nonfiction Book of 2024"!: Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health by Marty Makary, M.D.
Posted 10.30.24: Yale University Sterling Professor Akhil Reed Amar has been awarded one of ten Barry Prizes from the American Academy of Sciences and Letters in recognition of “intellectual excellence and courage.” The award was conferred in a ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 23. The Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement honors “those whose work has made outstanding contributions to humanity's understanding and cultivation of the good, the true, and the beautiful,” according to the Academy. The citation for Amar praised his contributions and influence across the academy, the legal profession, government, and popular discourse.
Posted 10.23.24: A New York Times Best Seller! Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health by Marty Makary, M.D. now five weeks on the New York Times list. As Publishers Weekly wrote, “Incisive and damning, this is a much-needed wake-up call.”
Posted 06.20.24: A New York Times Best Seller! The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation by Victor Davis Hanson, now many weeks on the list. A "profound book.”—Robert D.Kaplan, The Wall Street Journal “Informative and lively.... Strong on history.”—Richard Overy, The Times Literary Supplement (London)
Posted 10.04.23: "David Friedman's The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism, the anarcho-capitalist classic, turns 50 this year, and it's worth revisiting for both its spirit and substance. The book has a chaotic energy.... The most striking thing about The Machinery of Freedom is its cheerful, eclectic optimism. It weaves back and forth between history, politics, and speculative fiction in ways that are enlivening and energizing. Friedman was not the first to make market anarchist arguments, but in the decades that followed the book's publication, they grew in appeal as an alternative to the angry polarization gripping those who preferred to fight over state power."—Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason Magazine, November 2023 "Deserves serious attention...informed by solid and sophisticated economic theory."—James M. Buchanan, Journal of Economic Literature; winner Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences 1986