Introduction to the Federalist

Hillsdale College’s John Miller hosts a series of podcasts on the great books for National Review. NR compiles the podcasts on this page (including access and subscription to the podcasts in the various podcast forms). There is a wealth of riches here. You will want to scroll through the list to find those you want to take in, such as Assumption College’s Professor Dan Mahoney on The Gulag Archipelago.

In the podcast posted this past January 30, John interviews Claremont McKenna College Professor Charles Kesler and Claremont Review of Books editor Charles Kesler on the Federalist Papers. Charles wrote the introduction and notes for Clinton Rossiter’s edition of the Federalist Papers. He knows what he is talking about and he is a natural teacher. This is an introduction that pleases while it instructs.

Quotable quote: “The Constitution doesn’t explain itself. What The Federalist makes explicit is that there is a constitutionalism implicit in it.”

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