-[Leavitt] traces the development of the US sense of justice in the context of class conflict, beginning with a broad summary of preagricultural culture. He suggests that class struggle was unlikely in those preagricultural communitities, as the groups were small, homogenous, and related via blood, clan, or marriage. Progressing into the colonial period of the US, Leavitt reveals how a changing social demographic provided fertile ground for an American notion of justice that would appear in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Class conflict became more pronounced as the US approached its centennial. The middle class began to mature and coalesce around ideas that were more progressive than those held by the ruling elite. A different notion of justice became evident in the many civil rights measures of the 1900s that placed civil liberties above property rights, culminating in the broadening judicial interpretation of due process. Leavitt suggests that the momentum of progressive policy has not been lost, but that the surge of conservative action in recent years serves as proof of the class conflict inherent in US public policy as it relates to notions of justice. . . Recommended.-
--F. E. Knowles, Choice
"[Leavitt] traces the development of the US sense of justice in the context of class conflict, beginning with a broad summary of preagricultural culture. He suggests that class struggle was unlikely in those preagricultural communitities, as the groups were small, homogenous, and related via blood, clan, or marriage. Progressing into the colonial period of the US, Leavitt reveals how a changing social demographic provided fertile ground for an American notion of justice that would appear in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Class conflict became more pronounced as the US approached its centennial. The middle class began to mature and coalesce around ideas that were more progressive than those held by the ruling elite. A different notion of justice became evident in the many civil rights measures of the 1900s that placed civil liberties above property rights, culminating in the broadening judicial interpretation of due process. Leavitt suggests that the momentum of progressive policy has not been lost, but that the surge of conservative action in recent years serves as proof of the class conflict inherent in US public policy as it relates to notions of justice. . . Recommended."
--F. E. Knowles, Choice
"[Leavitt] traces the development of the US sense of justice in the context of class conflict, beginning with a broad summary of preagricultural culture. He suggests that class stuggle was unlikely in those preagricultural communitites, as the groups were small, homogenous, and related via blood, clan, or marriage. Progressing into the colonial period of the US, Leavitt reveals how a changing social demographic provided fertile ground for an American notion of justice that would appear in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Class conflict became more pronounced as the US approached its centennial. The middle class began to mature and coalesce around ideas that were more progressive than those held by the ruling elite. A different notion of justice becamse evident in the many civil rights measures of the 1900s that placed civil liberties above property rights, culminating in the bradening judicial interpretation of due process. Leavitt suggests that the momentum of progressive policy has not been lost, but that the surge of conservative action in recent years serves as proof of the class conflict inherent in US public policy as it relates to notions of justice. . . Recommended."
--F. E. Knowles, Choice