From: cramer@optilink.dsccc.com (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: my second book is finally available

For The Defense of Themselves And The State: The Original Intent &
Judicial Interpretation of the Right To Keep And Bear Arms

From the Marketing Hype for the book:

    For The Defense Of Themselves And The State

    The Original Intent & Judicial Interpretation of the Right
    To Keep and Bear Arms

    Beginning with its origins in the turbulence of the English
    Civil War, Cramer traces the development of "the right of
    the people to keep and bear arms" through the Constitutional
    Convention, the ratification debates in the several states
    that followed, and its progress through Congress as a part
    of the Bill of Rights.  _For The Defense Of Themselves And
    The State_ is a comprehensive look at the circumstances and
    concerns that motivated the addition of the Second Amendment
    to the U.S. Constitution.

    But much more than simply another scholarly history of a part
    of the Bill of Rights, Cramer brings together a comprehensive
    collection of case law concerning the Second Amendment, and
    the many analogs to it in the various state constitutions.
    Along the way, he shows many of the debates today are mere
    echoes of debates of the past.  For example, the reaction of
    the frontier Western states to the Bowie knife bear eerie
    similarities to current debates over "Saturday night specials"
    and assault weapons.

    Most disturbingly, Cramer brings to light state supreme
    court decisions that show that many gun control laws were
    frankly stated as instruments of racial and ethnic control
    over blacks, recent immigrants, and labor organizers --
    and when existing precedents proved inconvenient, they were
    misquoted, miscited, and simply ignored by many courts.

    This is a book invaluable to law schools, seeking a critical
    evaluation of how a fundamental right has been interpreted
    by the courts, and by those scholars who seek to understand
    the nature of the social changes that changed Revolutionary
    American into Reactionary America.

    At a moment when street crime is seemingly out of control,
    and more and more cries go up for the confiscation of firearms
    throughout the nation, Cramer's work is a complete and balanced
    survey of how "the right of the people to keep and bear arms"
    has been continually reinterpreted -- and misinterpreted --
    over the last two hundred years.

    "An impressive display of scholarship -- and going to
    sources..." -- Professor Daniel Markwyn, Sonoma State University
    
    "[Cramer's book] provides the kind of scholarly resource that
    educated citizens need to think for themselves, a rich digest
    of primary sources documenting -- in their own words -- the
    views, motives and intentions of the Framers, historic 
    commentators, legislators and judiciary who have debated 
    'the right to keep and bear arms' from the origins of our
    republic." -- Professor Preston K. Covey, Carnegie-Mellon
    University

ISBN 0-275-94913-3, 304 pages, hardback, acid-free paper

Greenwood Publishing Group (800) 225-5800

Do your part -- if they sell 50,000 copies, I can go ahead and
retire from software, and devote my life to writing and teaching
history.  (Of course, then I wouldn't be on USENET).

Available, August, 1994.  This was a problem of email moving faster
from California to the rest of the world, than from Greenwood's
Marketing Dept. to Order Dept.

Oh yes, the price: $49.95.  If that's too steep, annoy your local
librarian into ordering a copy to put on the shelf.  They are
surprisingly willing to do this for a serious book, from a serious
publisher.

-- 
Clayton E. Cramer {uunet,pyramid}!optilink!cramer  My opinions, all mine!
Information Superhighway Engineer -- please slow down when you see the
orange safety vest.
From: cramer@optilink.dsccc.com (Clayton Cramer)

Just thought I would inform you that my book will be shipping in late May --
not July, as previously announced.  (I know for sure that it is being
printed now, because I tried to change "James II" to "Charles II" on page
26, and it was too late.

So far, a startling 16 orders have been received.