A machine that would go of itself, the constitution in American culture.

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A machine that would go of itself, the constitution in American culture.

A Machine that Would Go Of Itself, The Constitution in American Culture.

Michael Kammen, Alfred A. Knopf,$29.95.

In this book, a must-read for the bicentennialyear, Pulitzer Prize winner Martin Kammen sets himself a challenging task. He examines "the cultural impact of the United States Constitution.' He calls this a "study in popular constitutionalism' --of the "perceptions and misperceptions, uses and abuses, knowledge and ignorance of ordinary Americans.'

Kammen reaches somewhat farther than hisgrasp. His method is less analytical than quotational. He makes an exhaustive, sometimes exhausting, compilation of what various politicians, lawyers, judges, historians, and journalists have said and written about the Constitution. But his sources can hardly be re...

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