Books by Corey Brettschneider
Latest book
The Presidents and the People
Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It
Winner, American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award, 2025
American presidents have often pushed the boundaries established for them by the Constitution; this is the inspirational history of the people who pushed back.
Imagine an American president who imprisoned critics, spread a culture of white supremacy, and tried to upend the law so that he could commit crimes with impunity.
The five presidents
John Adams · James Buchanan · Andrew Johnson · Woodrow Wilson · Richard Nixon
Buy the book
More places to buy
"[A]n essential survey… [The Presidents and the People] is an invaluable breakdown of present-day concerns in an illuminating historical context."
"Corey Brettschneider traces a stunning pattern right across American history. Again and again, brave citizens wielded the Constitution against power, arrogance, and racism to save the republic. The Presidents and the People challenges our conventional wisdom about the presidents, the people, the courts, and democracy itself. Deeply researched, beautifully written, dramatic, wise, and inspiring—a must-read for scholars, citizens, and anyone interested in how the United States really works."
James A. Morone, author of Hellfire Nation and Republic of Wrath
"Rarely can a book be called indispensable, but here the term applies. At a time when aspiring autocrats appear to be winning across the globe, it is essential to remind citizens why they should not lose hope. With deft sketches from US history, one of our finest constitutional theorists demonstrates how so-called ordinary people, rather than having to rely on judges or professional politicians to save the system, can themselves play a crucial role in the process of recovering democracy."
Jan-Werner Müller, Professor of Social Sciences and Politics, Princeton University, and author of What is Populism?
Where the show began
The Oath and the Office
A Guide to the Constitution for Future Presidents
Can the president launch a nuclear attack without congressional approval? Is it ever a crime to criticize the president? Can states legally resist a president’s executive order? In today’s fraught political climate, it often seems as if we must become constitutional law scholars just to understand the news from Washington, let alone make a responsible decision at the polls. The Oath and the Office is the book we need, right now and into the future, whether we are voting for or running to become president of the United States. Constitutional law scholar and political science professor Corey Brettschneider guides us through the Constitution and explains the powers—and limits—that it places on the presidency. From the document itself and from American history’s most famous court cases, we learn why certain powers were granted to the presidency, how the Bill of Rights limits those powers, and what “we the people” can do to influence the nation’s highest public office—including, if need be, removing the person in it. In these brief yet deeply researched chapters, we meet founding fathers such as James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, as well as key figures from historic cases such as Brown v. Board of Education and Korematsu v. United States. Brettschneider breathes new life into the articles and amendments that we once read about in high school civics class, but that have real impact on our lives today. The Oath and the Office offers a compact, comprehensive tour of the Constitution, and empowers all readers, voters, and future presidents with the knowledge and confidence to read and understand one of our nation’s most important founding documents.
“A cleareyed, accessible, and informative primer: vital reading for all Americans.”
The podcast
Hard-hitting constitutional analysis meets razor-sharp comedy.
Distinguished political science professor Corey Brettschneider teams up with comedian John Fugelsang to break down the most powerful 35 words in American democracy—the presidential oath of office.
More books
Casebooks · Aspen Publishing
