Book Offer

I received this e-mail today:

"September 15th , 2011

Dear Professor:

I would like to offer you a complimentary examination copy of Making Our Democracy Work (Vintage, ISBN 978-0-307-39083-7, $16.00), by Justice Stephen Breyer, a tour de force of history and philosophy, offering an original approach to interpreting the Constitution that judges, lawyers, and scholars will look to for many years to come.

Charged with the responsibility of interpreting the Constitution, the Supreme Court has the awesome power to strike down laws enacted by our elected representatives. Why does the public accept the Court’s decisions as legitimate and follow them, even when those decisions are highly unpopular? What must the Court do to maintain the public’s faith? How can it help make our democracy work? In this groundbreaking book, Justice Stephen Breyer tackles these questions and more.

“A users’ guide to both the Constitution and the Supreme Court. . . . You will find perhaps the best five-page description ever produced of how the Supreme Court works.” —The Boston Globe

“A calm, reasoned book about how the Supreme Court should do its work and how, in history it has sometimes failed the challenge. . . . A remarkable contribution to educating the public about our constitutional system.” —Anthony Lewis, New York Review of Books

“Vivid and full of surprising details. . . . Breyer’s willingness to present his argument in terms that educated citizens can understand, in the hope of persuading all of us to participate actively in American democracy, exemplifies an idealism about what is possible in a democratic citizenry, and an optimism about it, that is as impressive as it is rare on the Supreme Court. . . . Very admirable.”
—Jeffrey Rose, The New Republic

To receive a complimentary copy of Making Our Democracy Work, simply fill out the form located at http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/promo/, or respond to this email with your college mailing address. The book is yours to keep.

In addition, we will be happy to extend this offer to any of your colleagues who might also be interested in this title and encourage you to pass along this e-mail. (Offer is good only in the US and to professors who would consider the book for possible course adoption use.)

Yours sincerely,


Rachel Markowitz
Knopf Doubleday Academic Marketing
1745 Broadway 12th Floor
New York, NY 10019
212-572-2848
rmarkowitz@randomhouse.com"


I don’t know whether I received this e-mail because I reviewed Justice Breyer’s recent prior book, or because I look like the kind of person who is interested in making democracy work, but being invited to share this offer with my colleagues, I am doing so.

Note that the offer is only available if you “would consider the book for possible course adoption use.” Having written on Twombly (here and here), I interpret “possible” to be something less than “probable”, though of course a non-zero chance. I leave it to you to sort out the ethical question on your own.