Jared A. Goldstein is associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law, Roger Williams University School of Law.
Professor Jared Goldstein deftly explores how persons with
exclusionary ideologies have claimed that those ideologies are
rooted in the same Constitution that other Americans have claimed
is committed to realizing the creed laid out in the second
paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. Real Americans
details the history of claims that the Constitution of the United
States was designed for white persons, for Protestants, for
native-born citizens, or for some combination of the three. An
eye-opener and a page-turner on the dark side of American
constitutional identity." - Mark A. Graber, regents professor,
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
"From the country’s inception, Americans have used the language of
constitutional fidelity and devotion not only to reaffirm desirable
and civically unifying creedal principles but also to foment
exclusionary, divisive, and morally reprehensible values. Racists,
ethno- and Christian nationalists, and other illiberal extremists
have consistently wrapped themselves in the mantle of the
Constitution while casting themselves as the compact’s most loyal
defenders. For this reason, we cannot afford to take pious
invocations of constitutional faith at face value. Jared
Goldstein’s seminal study is essential reading for anyone hoping to
understand some of the most disturbing currents of contemporary
American politics." - Ken I. Kersch, professor of political
science, Boston College, and author of American Political Thought:
An Invitation
"Goldstein’s illuminating book does a beautiful job of highlighting
the ideological elasticity of the federal US Constitution—the way
in which constitutional loyalty has served as a critical bedrock
for a wide variety of American nationalisms. Through a series of
compelling case studies, Real Americans focuses especially on
exclusionary and illiberal forms of national belonging that have
been encased in constitutional rhetoric. This book is a bracing
rejoinder to the more familiar and rosy presentations of American
constitutional culture and deserves as broad an audience as
possible." - Aziz Rana, Richard and Lois Cole Professor of Law,
Cornell Law School
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