The Reign of Law: Marbury v. Madison and the Construction of America

In this ground-breaking book, Kahn uses modern cultural theory to investigate America’s most profound political myth: the belief that the rule of law is rule by the people. Kahn explores the elements of the myth, the rhetoric of law that sustains the myth, and the world of meaning the myth creates. He shows us that law must be central to religious, anthropological, and philosophical studies of American life.

Paul W. Kahn, Robert W. Winner Professor of Law and the Humanities at Yale Law School, is the author of Law and Love: The Trials of King Lear and Legitimacy and History: Self-Government in American Constitutional Theory, both published by Yale University Press.

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