Podcast / American Prestige / Jul 9, 2024

The Rise and Fall of the American Constitutional Model

On this episode of American Prestige, Aziz Rana on how Americans came to revere the Constitution.

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The Rise and Fall of the American Constitutional Model with Aziz Rana | American Prestige
byThe Nation Magazine

This week on American Prestige, hosts Derek Davison and Danny Bessner welcome back to the program Aziz Rana, the incoming J. Donald Monan, S.J., professor of law and government at Boston College, for a multi-part discussion about how Americans came to revere the Constitution and the worldwide implications.

In this episode, the group discusses the latest Supreme Court ruling as of the recording date (Trump v. Anderson), how America’s treatment of its constitution compares with those of other nations, the Constitution’s development in the country’s first century, debates around the document in the Civil War and Reconstruction, and more through the end of the 19th century.

You can grab a copy of the book inspiring this series, The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them.

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(Gerald Herbert / AP Photo)

This week on American Prestige, we welcome back to the program Aziz Rana, the incoming J. Donald Monan, SJ, professor of law and government at Boston College, for a multipart discussion about how Americans came to revere the Constitution and the worldwide implications.

In this episode, the group discusses the latest Supreme Court ruling as of the recording date (Trump v. Anderson), how America’s treatment of its Constitution compares with that of other nations, the Constitution’s development in the country’s first century, debates around the document in the Civil War and Reconstruction, and more through the end of the 19th century.

You can grab a copy of the book inspiring this series, The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Drugs in America, Pt. 1 w/ Ben Fong | American Prestige
byThe Nation Magazine

On this episode of American Prestige, hosts Derek Davison and Daniel Bessner are joined by Ben Fong of Arizona State University for a two-part discussion of his book Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge. In this episode, the group covers everything from coffee to opiates to antidepressants, how they interact with capitalist society, the CIA, commodity fetishism, licit vs. illicit as distinct from legal vs. illegal, and more.

Check out more of Ben's work at his Substack on labor and logistics, On the Seams.

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Daniel Bessner

Daniel Bessner is an historian of US foreign relations, and cohost of American Prestige, a podcast on international affairs.

Derek Davison

Derek Davison is a writer and analyst specializing in international affairs and US foreign policy. He is the publisher of the Foreign Exchanges newsletter, cohost of the American Prestige podcast, and former editor of LobeLog.

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