Adekeye Adebajo and Alison L. LaCroix for PS Book Recommendations

Your weekly reading inspiration, provided by PS contributors. The PS Book Recommendations newsletter. [View this message in a web browser.]( [PS Book Recommendations]( Welcome to PS Book Recommendations, your weekly source of reading inspiration, provided by PS contributors. This week's edition features Alison L. LaCroix, Professor of Law and an associate member of the History Department at the University of Chicago, and Adekeye Adebajo, a professor and senior research fellow at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship. [Book cover Middle East in Crisis and Conflict: A Primer]( [Middle East in Crisis and Conflict: A Primer]( By Taufiq Rahim A primer distilling the information, insights, and implications you need to navigate ongoing developments in Israel and Palestine. [Available Now!]( Sponsored by 2040 World By a PS Contributor [The Interbellum Constitution: Union, Commerce, and Slavery in the Age of Federalisms]( By Alison L. LaCroix LaCroix says: "My book seeks to reframe our understanding of the relationship between the American federal union and the US Constitution. Most accounts of the US Constitution focus on just two iconic moments: the founding (roughly 1787-91) and the Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-77). Clearly, both periods were foundational in historical terms, and remain highly salient to US political and legal debates today. But this conventional story skips over the crucial 46-year period between the founding and the Civil War, treating it as a kind of 'constitutional flyover country' – a place where little of constitutional importance happened. If, however, we look at what was happening on the ground over these five decades, we see debates on some of the most important issues of the time, including slavery and commerce, being conducted by statesmen from all over the country, as well as female commentators, Native leaders, and free and enslaved Black activists. All together, these 'producers of constitutional discourse,' as I call them, present a symphonic vision of the Constitution that was very different from either the founders’ vision or our modern Constitution." Adekeye Adebajo Recommends... [Tradition and Change in Africa: The Essays of J.F. Ade Ajayi]( Edited by Toyin Falola Adebajo says: "This collection of essays by Nigerian historian Ade Ajayi, published in 2000, addresses topics such as the legacy of slavery, African historiography, African traditional societies, Christianity in Africa, colonial rule, and Nigerian history, ethnicity, and democracy. But it emphasizes the history and impact of the transatlantic slave trade, which played a major – and under-recognized – role in Western industrialization. Ajayi was a member of the Organization of African Unity’s Group of Eminent Persons on Reparations in 1992-93, which [demanded]( that the West recognize its moral and financial debt to Africa and its diaspora for slavery and colonialism, and compensate these populations accordingly. To this end, he called for the education and mobilization of African societies, research into the costs of slavery and colonialism, and detailed calculations of the costs of reparations." Don't miss our new Say More interview with Adebajo, on Israel’s war in Gaza, UN peacekeeping, the militarization of US engagement with Africa, and more. [Read now]( [Black Reparations in the Era of Globalization]( By Ali A. Mazrui Adebajo says: "In this 2002 book, the Kenyan intellectual Mazrui – who was, with Ajayi, a member of the OAU’s Group of Eminent Persons on Reparations – proposes reparations for five centuries of European slavery and colonialism. He notes the failures of colonial economies to transform African states and highlights the disruption of socioeconomic ties between Africa and its diaspora. For Mazrui, reparations are about ensuring Western historical accountability, not assuaging Western guilt. He thus urges Western governments to offer material and moral support for democracy in Africa, and to lower barriers to development, such as by annulling its external debt. He also proposes an African 'Middle Passage Plan' modeled after the Marshall Plan, which supported Europe’s post-World War II reconstruction." [PS. Subscribe to PS starting at just $49.99.]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [LinkedIn]( Project Syndicate publishes and provides, on a not-for-profit basis, original commentary by the world's leading thinkers to more than 500 media outlets in over 150 countries. This newsletter does not entitle the recipient to re-publish any of the content it contains. This newsletter is a service of [Project Syndicate](. [Change your newsletter preferences](. Follow us on [Facebook]( [Twitter]( and [YouTube](. © Project Syndicate, all rights reserved. [Unsubscribe from all newsletters](.