The American founding has been studied from various perspectives: the impact of the Scottish Enlightenment in Garry Wills's Inventing America (CH, Jul '78), the influence of European thinkers in Forrest McDonald's Novus-Ordo Seclorum (CH, May '86), and the pamphlets of the American Revolution in Bernard Bailyn's The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (CH, Dec '67). Lutz (Houston) significantly adds to the scholarship by analyzing and interpreting 150 years of American political writings that he previously collected in Documents of Political Foundation Written by Colonial Americans (1986). The result is an absorbing account of how Colonial compacts, convenants, and state consitutions provided the rich and original American political tradition upon which the US Constitution was founded. The details and implications of his analysis are both dazzling and exciting. Each chapter illuminates previously hidden perspectives in tracing the roots of the Constitution. In differentiating between the purposes of preambles, bills of rights, and constitutions, Lutz presents an engrossing exploration of the interdependence of the Declaration, Constitution, and state governments. Highly recommended for public libraries, colleges and graduate schools. S. Behuniak-Long Le Moyne College