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AMERICAN COVENANT

Yuval Levin

How the Constitution Unified Our Nation – And Could Again

"The most important voice in the political culture" (Ben Shapiro) reveals the Constitution's remarkable power to repair our broken civic culture, rescue our malfunctioning politics, and unify a fractious America
Common ground is hard to find in today's politics. In a society teeming with irreconcilable political perspectives, many people have grown frustrated under a system of government that constantly demands compromise. More and more on both the right and the left have come to blame the Constitution for the resulting discord. But the Constitution is not the problem we face; it is the solution. Blending engaging history with lucid analysis, conservative scholar Yuval Levin's American Covenant recovers the Constitution's true genius and reveals how it charts a path to repairing America's fault lines. Uncovering the framers' sophisticated grasp of political division, Levin showcases the Constitution's exceptional power to facilitate constructive disagreement, negotiate resolutions to disputes, and forge unity in a fractured society. Clear-eyed about the ways that contemporary politics have malfunctioned, Levin also offers practical solutions for reforming those aspects of the constitutional order that have gone awry. Hopeful, insightful, and rooted in the best of our political tradition, American Covenant celebrates the Constitution's remarkable power to bind together a diverse society, reassuring us that a less divided future is within our grasp. Yuval Levin?is the director of social, cultural, and constitutional studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he also holds the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy. The founder and editor of National Affairs, he is also a senior editor at the New Atlantis, a contributing editor at National Review, and a contributing opinion writer at the New York Times. His previous books include The Fractured Republic and A Time to Build. A former member of the White House domestic policy staff under George W. Bush, he lives in Maryland.
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Published 2024-06-11 by Basic Books

Comments

Because we Americans have forgotten how to disagree with one another, forgotten how to collaborate and compromise, Yuval Levin contends, in clear and persuasive prose, that the United States Constitution offers us a welcome framework for promoting our desperately needed national unity. Indeed, no one has ever explained so authoritatively and so judiciously the significance of the Constitution for the health of our civic life as Levin has in this brilliant book. It is an extraordinary achievement.

In his inspiring defense of the Constitution as a framework for national unity, Yuval Levin argues for a resurrection of the hopeful realism of James Madison. This is a brilliant and original work of political science and constitutional history that illuminates the sources of our current divisions and points the way to a more unified future.

In an era where both sides of the political spectrum see each other as mortal enemies and endless bickering is the norm, Yuval Levin brilliantly teaches how the spirit and substance of the Constitution can soften our animosity and make our disagreements constructive. American Covenant is a clear and hopeful guide for a more dignified and unified America.

Yuval Levin may be the most important voice in the political culture right now. His serious, solutions-based thinking is an excellent corrective to the current moment, which is seemingly all about fostering division rather than rebuilding a common sense of purpose. His new book is a key part of the solution.