A conspiracy of the wealthy and well-born hatched  the Constitution as a way of tricking the people of the United  States out of the liberties they had gained through the  expenditure of blood and treasure during the Revolution.  The raving of a right-wing zany? The ranting of the last  Maoist in Albania?  No. It was the opinion of Samuel Bryan of Philadelphia, a  patriot who took an active part in the public debate over the  Constitution of the United States by writing and publishing  twenty-four letters under the pen name "Centinel."  Why are the letters important?  As historian Charles Beard pointed out, The Letters of  Centinel demand comparison with The Federalist Papers. They  turn many of our revered assumptions on their ear.  The letters contain one of the earliest and most outspoken  calls for a Bill of Rights. We tend to forget the Constitution  was first proposed without those first ten amendments that are  so important to us now. It is unlikely the Bill of Rights  would exist without the public alarm sounded by Centinel and  others like him.  The letters publicly lament the Constitution's provision for  the continuing importation of slaves, an element of the  document most of us now would rather forget.  The letters make a case for what are now called "term limits,"  an early attempt to prevent the formation of a political class  in the U.S.  The letters cause us to rethink some of our received opinions  on the "Founding Fathers." Washington and Franklin are seen as  well-meaning but misled tools of an aristocratic junto.  Hamilton is described as a New York writer with a "deranged  brain."  In short, The Letters of Centinel make what is now mere  history breathe the impassioned air of a contemporary debate  and should be widely read and discussed for the very good  reason Centinel himself provides-- "...of all possible evils,  that of despotism is the worst and the most to be dreaded."  Edited and introduced by Warren Hope, Ph.D., an author and a  professor of graduate English and publishing at Rosemont  College, this book will prove of interest to general readers,  journalists, politicians, lawyers, and students and teachers  of American history

The Letters of Centinel

HOPE, Warren

Bryan, Samuel

Hope, Warren T

Constitutional Law

Fifth Season Pr

Alfred de Musset's Nights, a landmark of French Romantic poetry, grew out of Musset's tempestuous relationship with George Sand, the novelist and feminist. Saint-Beuve, a critic who knew both Sand and Musset well, said of him: "That love was the great event in his life and I speak only of his life as a poet. His youthful talent was suddenly purified and ennobled." Sainte-Beuve said Musset's four Nights "mark the highest reaches of his lyrical gift." Now there is an English translation that does justice to the original.  Norman Cameron, a distinguished poet in his own right, established himself as a remarkable translator of French verse. Robert Graves described Cameron's translations of Rimbaud and Villon as "unsurpassed," arguing that Cameron's idiosyncratic integrity was the reason for their excellence. Cameron's versions of Musset's Nights, published here for the first time, were praised by poets and critics when they were broadcast on the BBC. Because of a rare combination of technical ingenuity and poetic power, Cameron's translations prove faithful to Musset's meaning, form, and lyric gift.

Alfred De Musset's Nights

Literature & Fiction

De Musset, Alfred

Poetry

Paul Lafargue's masterpiece, The Right To Be Lazy, at once funny and serious, witty and profound, elegant and forceful, is a logical expansion of The Right to the Pursuit of Happiness announced by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. It was not only extremely popular but also brought about pragmatic results, inspiring the movement for the eight-hour day and equal pay for men and women who perform equal work. It survives as one of the very few pieces of writing to come out of the international socialist movement of the nineteenth century that is not only readable-even enjoyable-but pertinent. This new translation by Len Bracken, fuller than previous versions in English, is supplemented by Lafargue's little-known talk on The Intellectuals.

The Right to Be Lazy

Humor & Entertainment

Lafargue, Paul

Humor

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