We the People?

The United States and the Question of Rights

edited by Irina Brittner, Sabine N. Meyer and Peter Schneck

Book cover: We the People?

Extent: 312 pages

Publisher: Universitätsverlag Winter

Subjects: American Studies, Cultural Studies, Law

Series: American Studies - A Monograph Series

Series volume number: 309

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(September 2020)

ISBN: 9783825347628

5.28 x 8.27 inches

Price: $72.00

In stock

The foundational vision of the U.S. polity as a “political edifice of liberty and equal rights” (Abraham Lincoln) has held immense symbolic power and bred both aspirations and discontent. It has served as the source for various interconnected, yet often also conflicting, narratives and discourses through which the question of human and civil rights in the U.S. has been constantly debated and re-negotiated. This volume investigates the U.S.-American culture of rights as it has evolved and continues to evolve throughout U.S. (legal) history as well as in U.S. literature and in popular culture. It demonstrates that the question of rights has been posed differently by members of the various groups and cultures that have historically constituted the United States, and that the answers to these questions changed significantly over time.

  • Edited by Irina Brittner
  • Edited by Sabine N Meyer
  • Edited by Peter Schneck