The beauty of Constitutional Identity derives both from the lucidity of Jacobsohn’s arguments and the cogency of his examples. Drawing primarily from cases arising before high courts in India, Ireland, Israel, South Africa, Turkey, and the U.S., it draws upon written opinions, interviews with judges, and a staggering range of secondary sources (perhaps a third of the book is footnotes). If the problems producing constitutional disharmonies are diverse, the legal and philosophical struggle to discover the core identities of the systems being studied and reconcile ‘the actual and the ideal provided for in a constitutional document’ is remarkably universal.

An important, thought-provoking work filled with brilliant, original ideas alongside fascinating examples. Constitutional Identity comes from one of America’s leading scholars of comparative constitutionalism with an unmatched wealth of pertinent knowledge and intellectual integrity, glowingly manifested here.

Gary Jeffrey Jacobsohn offers rich insights on the problems of constitutional identity; this is a seminal work in comparative constitutionalism and constitutional theory. The mere attempt to think about these problems is a worthwhile endeavor.

I won’t waste my time by providing a list of adjectives. Please invoke all that you can think of that praise this as a superb work. I’m both surprised and delighted that someone has the learning and imagination to write such a sweeping book. I’m doubly delighted that it’s Gary Jeffrey Jacobsohn who has done so.