An Open Letter to Professors Paulsen and Powell

Abstract

A book is an open invitation to a conversation between an author and his (or her) readers, and I am delighted that you both have accepted the invitation that I sought to extend in America’s Constitution: A Biography. I recall many face-to-face conversations with each of you when we were all students together at the Yale Law School in the early 1980s. I learned a great deal from you at that time; I have continued to learn a great deal from you in print since then— indeed, you are both repeatedly cited with approval in my book; and I look forward to learning more from each of you in the days to come as the conversation that we have begun in this Journal ripens into what I hope will be additional, more informal, discussions among us. Mike, I have only two quick things to say in response to your very warm review. First, thank you. Thank you for your enthusiasm and encouragement, and most of all for your generosity of spirit. (Perhaps all that time you spent trying to set me straight in law school was not wasted after all.) Since you raise the question of whether your glowing review might be thought by some to be strongly colored by our long friendship, it may be worth noting (though it is immodest of me to do so) that several other leading reviews, written by eminent lawyers and historians whom I know much less well, have been similarly glowing—much closer to your bottom line than to Jeff’s.