Saturday, December 11, 2010

Mirow Reviews Billias's American Constitutionalism Heard Round the World

Matthew Mirow, Florida International University, has published "Paper Echoes," an H-Law review of George Athan Billias's American Constitutionalism Heard Round the World. The review commences:
At the close of this remarkable work, Billias reminds his reader that “my book should be considered mainly as a pioneering effort” (p. 376). Billias has achieved this goal with a sturdy and detailed survey of American constitutionalism’s impact throughout the world. The work is a synthesis “based largely on secondary sources” (p. 376), filling a vast void in the literature. It is a sweeping introduction, an agenda for research for scores of historians, and an education in both the field and in how to construct such a study. It is written in clear, unencumbered, honest prose, and has a carefully considered scholarly apparatus of notes and index entries. It is a monumental work of thought, energy, and scholarship. Legal historians and constitutional comparatists are now most fortunate to have this work to guide us in the relatively uncharted waters of American influences on global constitutional history.
More.