Customer Reviews

The Bill of Rights: What It Is, What It Means, and How It's Been Misused

5 star:		(9)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

The introduction's first paragraph contains the first sign of trouble: "Remember learning about . . . the Bill of Rights? Me neither." And then the book goes downhill less gracefully than the "agony of defeat" skier from ABC's "Wide World of Sports." Documenting the errors in the book would require a tome of greater length than Ms. Fallon's lean effort, but some of the mistakes must be pointed out lest the reader think this review too harsh. Of the Fourth Amendment, Ms. Fallon writes: "It is unconstitutional for anyone . . . to search and/or seize an individual's body or private property, unless a specific, court-approved search warrant is presented" (p. 34). Initially, the idea that the Fourth Amendment restricts the acts of private individuals is farcical. Beyond that, the Supreme Court has been quite clear that warrants are not required in all searches or seizures. Ms. Fallon incorrectly states that the Fifth Amendment prohibits criminal trials without a grand-jury indictment. In truth, that prohibition applies only to the federal government, a fact that seems to have escaped the author. She believes that the phrase "just compensation" in the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment requires the government to "justify when they confiscate someone's property" (p. 39) in addition to paying for it. It would be innacurate to state that the book is completely wrong--though not by much. The misguided author completely misconstrues two of the amendments. Of the Second Amendment's "right to bear arms," she writes: "The Second Amendment is perhaps the most important amendment. First of all, it entitles the American people to an army, navy, and marines. . ." (p. 25). Had she bothered to check the body of the Constitution itself, Ms. Fallon might have been quite suprised to learn that the power to maintain an army is in fact found there. The Seventh Amendment provides for the right to a jury trial in certain *civil* cases. Ms. Fallon, however, comes up with the novel proposition that this amendment instead prevents criminal prosecutions in certain cases: "If, for example, you steal something that amounts to a value of less than twenty dollars, then not much can be done to prosecute you in a court of law" (p. 49). She also concludes that "[a]nything less [than $20] is handled outside of court." There comes a point when the sentient reader passes from disbelief at the words s/he is reading to a sense of uncontrolled hilarity. In discussing the first ten amendments to the Constitution, Ms. Fallon cites not a single case, despite the fact that the interpretation of the Bill of Rights comes to us through cases. Apparently determined not to become mired down in facts, Ms. Fallon has produced perhaps the funniest book since Douglas Adams's "Hitch Hiker" series. Though the title suggests this book about the Bill of Rights will tell us "What It Is," what we get instead are the incoherent, naive, and extraordinarily incorrect guesses of a complete legal novice (for lack of a word indicating less experience and knowledge).

With so many diffrent opinions on how to interpret the Bill of Rights, it is nice to see a clear, and concise interpritation by Mrs. Fallon. I may not agree with all points by the author but I truely enjoyed the elegance, and the simplicity of her writing style . If all educators put as much care into their teaching about the Bill of Rights as Mrs. Fallon did with her writing of it,this country would be far better off. Use the information in this book and combine it with all you know and have a better understanding of the Constitution.

Does the Bill of Rights, i.e. the first ten amendments to the Constitution, seem to you to be a moribund if not dead letter? Then you'll want to read, and want to give, Shannon Leigh Fallon's trenchant little book, The Bill of Rights: What It Is, What It Means and How It's Been Misused. I'm enthused by this book, not only because of its troubling subject matter, which is deadly serious, but because of another refreshing quality: It's mercifully short.Few publishers seem to have gotten the message, enforcing on writers the rule that books must consume 200 to 700 pages of pulp, which commonly results in ridiculous padding by authors, that our increasingly attention-deficited readers thirst for concision. Fallon's book revives a splendid custom of public philosophers and polemicists to write short, policy-oriented books.This is Fallon's first book (may there be many more), and it gets right to the point about our imperiled rights. With Waco and Ruby Ridge still in the news, and a tyrannical anti-terrorism bill about to Strip James Madison's legacy even more than our swelled national government already has, this is a potentially popular book that will help Americans revive their rights. Happily, Fallon explains, in lucid prose, why politically popular "group rights" are misnamed and untenable. For a right to be a legitimate right, damn it, it has to belong to an individual. Nor can it be a government-granted entitlement, such as free health care care or schooling. Get quantities of this one and give it to everyone on your list; it'll fit in a Christmas stocking.

I found this great little book in a secondhand book store, and I consider it a bargain even though I paid more than Amazon's NEW price. It's a very small book, approximately 5"x8"x1/3", 81 pages, so it just barely fits in the back pocket of my jeans. I read it all and added my own notes in the margins during the idle time of a single day, so it won't strain the attention span of the ADD generation. ;)

It's just perfect for a history class or giving to somebody who doesn't know the Bill of Rights from a gum wrapper. It is extremely concise, and while the 1-star reviewer above is correct in that there are a few small inaccuracies, it's far better than anything I've seen outside a law library; the fact that it doesn't reference court cases is actually a strength, and easily supplemented if desired. It was written from a Libertarian point of view (the dust jacket gives this away far more than the content of the book itself) but also manages to be entirely fair to those with differing points of view.

It does this, firstly, by being smart enough to point out in the introduction how misleading a single left-right political spectrum is, and giving instead a two-spectrum chart of personal and economic freedoms; secondly, by printing the verbatim wording of the amendment, then rephrasing the impact in terms entirely appropriate for a high-school (or even grade school) student and giving examples of how the amendment has been misused or ignored in the recent past; and thirdly, by dividing up the bell curve of possible interpretations into five regions consisting of two extremes (totalitarianism and anarchy), two "zones of contention," and a "generally acceptable interpretation."

It ends each amendment section with two "bones of contention" that do a fantastic job of highlighting the fundamental assumptions of the two extremes (for example, "the role of government is protecting the rights of individuals" versus "the role of government is to ensure social stability and equality") - for this reason, I would recommend this book even to non-libertarians who were interested in learning about (or teaching) the Bill of Rights. The intentions of the Founding Fathers, at least in my mind, were pretty clear, but if you differ in your fundamental assumptions about the role of government, I think you'll still find your position very fairly articulated.

The tragedies of Ruby Ridge and Waco are symptoms of a society in which the understanding that every person has certain rights that the government may not violate has become weakened. Without a renewed respect for the Bill of Rights grounded in intelligent knowledge, such violations of citizen rights could become commonplace. Shannon Fallon skillfully negotiates the sometimes slippery terrain of rights, responsibilities and entitlements to offer a solid understanding of how important it is to "preserve these rights," and what it will take to do so.

I am not one for books that are long winded just to add more pages to the book. I would rather have something that is concise, clearly worded and two the point in such a creative manner. This book fits all of these points. For anyone that wants to know about The Bill of Rights, then this is your book.

The author writes very well. I like this book because it was very interesting. It was very informative. I did not know who we have misused our Bill of Rights.

I am in the Fourth Grade, and this will help me with my class work. I will be able to go back to this book many times for help in the next years.

I was teacher for 30 years before I retired. Education is still a top priority for me; I constantly look for new and exciting books for teachers. When I came across Ms. Fallon's book I know I had discovered a treasure. Every high school student in America should have this book. And every history teacher should be teaching it.

With Kenneth Star checking on what people buy at Barnes & Noble, we need to be reminded of the importance of our basic rights in the Constitution, which Fallon does with grace and ease.

While no interpretive book needs to be written about the Bill of Rights, Ms. Fallon's book offers us a light, off-the-cuff book that is referencable. I enjoy giving this book as a gift. No matter whom you give it to in any household, it seems to find it's way into all hands. The Bill of Rights is so important to our lives yet seems so overlooked by everyone. Do yourself a favor and buy this book, then do your friends a favor and buy them the book... you owe it to your country.