America Unfinished - 250 Years of Law and Governance - An Essay Collection from Harvard Law Faculty

Aug 7, 2026

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America Unfinished brings together essays from Harvard Law faculty edited by Alexandra Natapoff and Guy-Uriel E. Charles, tracing how U.S. law and governance have evolved across 250 years. The collection connects foundational debates in democracy, free speech, dissent, and citizenship with major institutions including the Supreme Court and the federal government. It also examines elections, criminal justice, punishment, climate and food policy, economic governance, new technologies such as AI, and the international legal order, emphasizing academic freedom and the long work of sustaining democratic life.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages308

Reading Time7 h 54 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

Part I: Democracy

Part II: Free Speech and Dissent

Part III: American Identity, Citizenship, and Race

Part IV: The Supreme Court

Part V: The Federal Government

Part VI: Elections

Part VII: Crime, Punishment, and State Power

Part VIII: The Environment

Part IX: The Future of Economic Governance

Part X: New Technologies and the Future of Knowledge and Democracy

Part XI: The International Legal Order

Part XII: War

Part XIII: Legal Reasoning in a Democracy

Part XIV: The Legal Profession, Legal Education, and the Rule of Law

America Unfinished [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) America Unfinished 250 Years of Law and Governance An Essay Collection from Harvard Law Faculty edited by Alexandra Natapoff and Guy-Uriel E. Charles The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) The MIT Press Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 [mitpress.mit.edu](mitpress.mit.edu) © 2026 Massachusetts Institute of Technology This book was set in ITC Stone Serif Std and Trajan Pro by New Best-set Typesetters Ltd. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available. ISBN: 9780262060431 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 EU Authorised Representative: Easy Access System Europe, Mustamäe tee 50, 10621 Tallinn, Estonia | Email: [gpsr.requests@easproject.com](gpsr.requests@easproject.com) d_r0 [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) We dedicate this book to the principles and promise of academic freedom, and to all the people who have risked and sacrificed so much over the centuries so that we may still exercise it. [OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com) Contents Acknowledgments Declaration of Independence Gettysburg Address Introduction Alexandra Natapoff and Guy-Uriel E. Charles Part I: Democracy 1. The Unending Work of Democracy Noah Feldman 2. Making Americans: A History Annette Gordon-Reed 3. Constituting Democracy: Investing in a Virtuous Circle Martha Minow 4. Democracy Is a Negotiation Sheila Heen 5. From Independence to Interdependence: The Evolution of the American Project Rachel A. Viscomi Part II: Free Speech and Dissent 6. The Ban on Viewpoint Discrimination Cass R. Sunstein 7. Fear of Witches: Free Speech and Distrust of Government Speech Restrictions Rebecca Tushnet 8. Effective Dissent Laura Weinrib 9. Reinvigorating the Right to Petition Sharon Block 10. On American Exceptionalism and the Academic Freedom to Learn about History’s “Bad” Parts Tomiko Brown-Nagin Part III: American Identity, Citizenship, and Race 11. One People: The Audacious Provocation of America Guy-Uriel E. Charles 12. What Is America?: The Presumptions that Law Makes Kenneth W. Mack 13. Bicentennial Melancholia Randall Kennedy 14. The Founders’ Choice Is Not Yet in the Past John Coates 15. The Renaissance of Open White Supremacy Michael Klarman Part IV: The Supreme Court 16. Declaring Independence from Judicial Supremacy Nikolas Bowie and Daphna Renan 17. A Court of Two Crises Richard M. Re Part V: The Federal Government 18. A Federal Government Transformed Jody Freeman 19. Facing Our Fiscal Challenges at 250 Howell E. Jackson 20.“Merciless Indian Savages” or “Distinct, Independent Political Communities”? Joseph William Singer Part VI: Elections 21. Our Bulwarks Against Losing—or Improving—Our Democracy Nicholas O. Stephanopoulos 22. Rebuilding the Architecture of Presidential Elections Larry Schwartztol Part VII: Crime, Punishment, and State Power 23. American Criminal Law: From Inequality to Impunity Alexandra Natapoff 24. Restoring the Power of the People in the Criminal Process Adriaan Lanni 25. The Last Federal Prosecutors Andrew Manuel Crespo 26. The Future of Capital Punishment Carol S. Steiker 27. Decarcerating Immigration SabrinehArdalan and Philip L. Torrey Part VIII: The Environment 28. Meeting the Challenge of Addressing Climate Change Richard J. Lazarus 29. Founding Ideals and the Future of American Food Policy Emily M. Broad Leib 30. The Law Against the Land Kristen A. Stilt Part IX: The Future of Economic Governance 31. Corporate Governance and Private Power Mariana Pargendler 32. America’s Anti-Corporate, Anti-Finance Populism: Yesterday and Today Mark J. Roe 33. Social Democracy Against Liberal Oligarchy Yochai Benkler 34. Law for Organizing: Combating the Crisis of Inequality Benjamin Sachs 35. Th

FAQs

What is America Unfinished about?

It is an essay collection that explores the evolution of American law and governance over 250 years, linking democracy, institutions, policy areas, and legal debates.

Who edited the collection?

The volume is edited by Alexandra Natapoff and Guy-Uriel E. Charles and draws on Harvard Law faculty essays.

Which major topics are covered in the book?

The contents span democracy and dissent, free speech, citizenship and race, the Supreme Court, elections, criminal law and punishment, climate and food policy, economic governance, AI and technology, international law, and war powers.

Aug 7, 2026

Upload by Finn