Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guys Guide to the Constitution

(Hardback)

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Description

The New York Times bestseller that has cemented Elie Mystals reputation as one of our sharpest and most acerbic legal minds

, Bookshop.org, Amazon, and elsewhere.

Now this pugnacious and entertaining critique of conservative interpretations of the Constitution (Publishers Weekly) is available in an affordable paperback edition. In chapters ranging from Why You Cant Punch a Cop and Its Not Unusual to Be Cruel to Everything You Know About the Second Amendment Is Wrong and The Abortion Chapter, the legal commentator that Samantha Bee calls irrepressible and righteously indignant weighs in on every hot-button issue facing the country (and the Supreme Court) today. As the New York Journal of Books observed, It is impossible to enjoy reading the Constitution more than through the searing perspective of the brilliant Twainesque humor of Elie Mystal in Allow Me to Retort.

Called the funniest lawyer in America by Matt Levine of Bloomberg Opinion, Mystal brings the same tactics he uses to defend the idea of a fair and equal society on MSNBC and CNN to what Washington Lawyer calls a witty, profane, and well-argued book that lays bare the truth of the Republican project to keep America forever tethered to its slaveholding past.

Reviews

Praise for Allow Me to Retort:
It is impossible to enjoy reading the Constitution more than through the searing perspective of the brilliant Twainesque humor of Elie Mystal inAllow Me to Retort.
New York Journal of Books

This witty, profane, and well-argued book makes a strong case for recognizing the flaws in our founding document and doing what we can to fix it.
Washington Lawyer

A pugnacious and entertaining critique of conservative interpretations of the Constitution. . . . Buttressed by Mystals caustic wit and accessible legal theories, this fiery takedown hits the mark.
Publishers Weekly

Theres something to learn on every page. . . . A reading of the Constitution that all social justice advocates should study.
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Fanastic . . . such a great combination of fury, righteous indignation, humor, and incredible erudition and brilliance.
Chris Hayes, host of Why is This Happening podcast, MSNBC

I loved this book very much . . . chapter nine The Taking of Black Land was [a] favorite of mine and Reverse Racism is Not a Thing . . . is fantastic.
Sunny Hostin, co-host of The View and author of Summer on the Bluffs

"After readingAllow Me to Retort, I want Elie Mystal to explain everything I dont understandquantum astrophysics, the infield fly rule, why people think Bob Dylan is a good singer. . . ."
Michael Harriot,The Root

A tour de force from the Explainer-in-Chief of American law! Mystals sharp wit entertains and educates about some of the greatest misconceptions of Constitutional scholarship and travesties in American justice.
Malcolm Nance, bestselling author of The Plot to Hack America

Essential reading for people who think that you need to go to law school to understand our founding documents, and the perfect guidebook for Americans who want to understand how our country is supposed to work.
Zerlina Maxwell, MSNBC analyst and author of The End of White Politics

I loved Allow Me to Retort. Its a powerful and important book of brightly alive ideas. Mystal deconstructs tired arguments and failed positions with his signature intelligence, humor, grace, and extraordinary wit. His big brain, bright ideas and fierce advocacy for what is right are an antidote to the poison of our current political system.
Don Winslow, bestselling author of The Border

Elie Mystal is the funniest lawyer in America. Allow Me to Retort is brisk and brutal, sharply argued, full of both laugh-out-loud lines and righteous fury.
Matt Levine, Money Stuff columnist, Bloomberg Opinion

In Elie Mystal, we, the people, have a smart and funny legal pugilist. Allow Me to Retort is the peoples guide to todays battles over the use, misuse, and abuse of the Constitution, and how we can actually secure justice for all.
Dan Berger, professor of comparative ethnic studies, University of Washington, and author of Rethinking the American Prison movement

Author Bio

Elie Mystal is The Nations legal analyst and justice correspondent, an Alfred Knobler Fellow at the Type Media Center, and the legal editor of the More Perfect podcast on the Supreme Court for Radiolab. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, the former executive editor of Above the Law, a former associate at Debevoise & Plimpton, and a frequent guest on MSNBC and Sirius XM. The author of Allow Me to Retort (The New Press), he lives in New York.