Feldman’s reliance on Jefferson Davis to frame a book on Abraham Lincoln thus makes perfect sense: Aside from the slaveholders’ insistence on the ethical legitimacy of slavery, Feldman’s constitutional analysis consistently backs their arguments over Lincoln’s. Less than perfect, unfortunately, are the renderings of American history he offers to support his surprising thesis.

Vignettes about slavery, the negotiators of the compromises, abolitionists, the Civil War, and beyond offer context for Feldman’s innovative legal analysis. In describing interactions among political groups, voting rights, diverse views of abolitionists, suspending habeas corpus, and censorship, Feldman offers insights strikingly relevant to today’s politics..

While Feldman’s book...has many valuable insights, its argument downplays some crucial context. Feldman indicts Lincoln for his wartime suspension of civil liberties but has little to say about the abuses of power that provoked the constitutional crisis: Southern enslavers’ prolonged suppression of free speech or their radical defiance of Lincoln’s lawful election.

The Broken Constitution reflects [Feldman's] formidable gifts. His account of the legal controversy surrounding Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus is masterly. It exemplifies Mr. Feldman’s talent for explaining complex legal matters elegantly and conveying what is important without condescending to the general reader.

... one must be forewarned that much of the text is law or legal-oriented, such that one must, at times, read carefully in order to understand the point that is being made.

Feldman offers an elucidating look into Lincoln’s incremental thinking, neatly demonstrating how he articulated the 'before' and 'after' Constitution in the Gettysburg Address as a compromise versus a moral document, using an Old Testament/New Testament analogy that embodied equality for all promised in the Declaration of Independence. Feldman never bogs down in legalese, rendering a scholarly topic accessible for general readers. A marvelously intricate work on Lincoln’s writings and thoughts, which continue to offer fodder for historians..

... probing.