Book Log 2008 #34: The Lost Constitution by William Martin

I've generally enjoyed Martin's historical scavenger hunts, but was highly disappointed in this one, where antiquarian Peter Fallon gets involved in the search for a rumored early draft of the Constitution complete with notes on the debates, which people on both sides of a movement to repeal the 2nd Amendment want to see in order to further their cause.

I think the book misses on a few marks:

* The politics of the book are too simple and the ultimate message in favor of rational discussion and bipartisanship doesn't resonate that strongly.

* The idea that people staunchly in a political camp may be putting on an act to protect personal lives or to gain power seems to want more outrage than I could muster.

* We have a much better sense ahead of time how the missing object is going to play into the current story line that we did in books like Harvard Yard and Back Bay. This takes away from the ending a bit.

* That ending is very hard to believe.

* There was no family tree at the front of the book, which would have been helpful in keeping the historical characters straight (especially when that story line started to branch into cousins).

I'd not bother with this unless you want to read all of Martin's books.