Abstract

This is a challenging book. For if the author’s analyses are sound, we now face a critical situation which demands unpalatable solutions. As Professor Miller sees it, we are about to be awakened from our slumbers in the American Dream; and while our eyes are still blurred with sleep, we are to be told that we must get up and dress hurriedly, leave the past behind us, and venture into a strange and hostile world. The book is, first, an historical account of the social and constitutional development of this country, culminating in a close analysis of the problems we will increasingly face in the future and of the terms that these impose for their solution. It is also hortatory, seeking to persuade us to face our situation squarely and prepare ourselves to deal with it in a way to preserve, in so far as possible, the constitutional freedoms and protections we now enjoy. The argument is firmly structured, and the writing is always clear and often forceful