"From Illinois to Alabama, and from Florida to Utah, our laws and legal debates arise from distinctive local settings within our vast and varied nation. As the renowned scholar Akhil Amar explains, Abraham Lincoln's argument against the legality of succession can be traced to his Midwestern upbringing, just as a close look at the Florida legislature and state Supreme Court reveals the fundamental wrongness of the Bush v. Gore decision. Amar profiles Alabama's Hugo Black, the dominant constitutional jurist of the twentieth century, and California's Anthony Kennedy, the powerful swing justice on the current Court. He probes Brown v. Board of Education, and explores the divisiveness of the Second and Fourth Amendments. An expert guide to America's constitutional landscape, Amar sheds new light on American history and politics and shows how America's legal tradition unites a vast and disparate land." -- Provided by publisher.

Part I: Constitutional Interpreters -- Illinois: Abraham Lincoln and the American Union -- Alabama: Hugo Black and the Hall of Fame -- New York: Robert Jackson and the Judicialization of the Judiciary -- California: Anthony Kennedy and the Ideal of Equality -- Part II: Constitutional Cases -- Kansas: Living in the Shadow of Brown v. Board -- Iowa: Rereading Tinker v. Des Moines -- Florida: Getting to the Bottom of Bush v. Gore -- Part III: Constitutional Provisions and Principles -- Ohio: A Buckeye-State View of Presidents Without Mandates -- Texas: A Lone-Star View of Presidential Selection and Succession -- Wyoming: A Rocky-Mountain View of the Second Amendment -- Massachusetts: A Bay-State View of the Fourth Amendment -- New Jersey: Lord Camden Meets Federalism.