Reviews for American Promise Compact 2e & Pocket Guide to Writing in History 4e

The average rating for American Promise Compact 2e & Pocket Guide to Writing in History 4e based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-09-28 00:00:00 Keryn Gibson A real quick history of the tensions that led up to enshrining a limitation on the police power to search and seize. I forget that when the fourth amendment was proposed, we were still years away from the commissioning of the first professional police force in the modern sense. Both Roman and English law would give warrants to individuals to investigate various types of wrongs. Perceived abuse of these warrants, of course, was one of the stated causes of the American Revolution. Old news. I was surprised to learn, though, that the writs of assistance issued by local judges was usually flatly illegal because the statute that enacted it required official approval of the Exchequer, not available in the colonies without a trip back to mother England. It was also fascinating to learn that at the same time our American ancestors were protesting overbroad general warrants (which could give someone nearly unlimited power to search), English courts were striking them down across the pond. In one case in 1765, Lord Camden struck a general warrant that allowed state agents to search broadly to find evidence that a man had published a seditious pamphlet. The court struck the warrant, effectively, as overbroad. In response to the Crown’s “argument of long usage the court answered: ‘There has been a submission of guilt and poverty to power and the terror of punishment. But it would be a strange doctrine to assert that all the people of this land are bound to acknowledge that to be universal law, which a few criminal booksellers have been afraid to dispute.’” Lasson at 48 (quoting Entick v. Carrington, State Trials, XIX, 1029 (1765)). That’s just awesome. I was very disappointed to hear how quickly our ancestors violated the principle that searches and seizures had to be based on probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation. Pennsylvania enacted a declaration of rights in 1776. In 1777, on request of Congress, simply seized people because someone thought might be pro- British, refused to give them hearings to challenge their arrests, and refused to honor habeas writs. As Lasson notes, “it brings to mind what James Madison said twelve years later, that wherever there is an interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done, and not less readily by a powerful and interested majority in a democracy than by a powerful and interested prince in a monarchy.” And it seems oh so familiar. I was thinking about this book while watching The Siege last night, especially the awesome scene where Denzel Washington gets right up in Bruce Willis’s face with a habeas writ. A good, short read, with lots of useful rhetorical for my rhetoric subdirectory.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-12-10 00:00:00 Naeem Gray This was a fantastic book! A clear, unbiased presentation of Middle East history over the last 2000 years - and told in such a compelling way that it was more than just facts and figures but a dramatic and engaging story. Lewis has a definite knack for story telling, turns of phrase, and well placed vignettes. Actually, I think there are at least three or four blockbuster movies we could make from this book!