Episode · Honestly with Bari Weiss · 2025-07-02
Bari Weiss & Akhil Amar: books mentioned on Honestly with Bari Weiss
What Makes America Exceptional, with Akhil Amar
Akhil Amar recommended The Federalist papers by Alexander Hamilton and others, and discussed Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum by Titus Maccius Plautus, and Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Ben-Hur
Discussed“It's in the Bible, you know, it And the old world had the idea of freeing slaves. It's in the Old Testament. It's in the New Testament. It's in Ben-Hur.”
Where to get it
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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Discussed“It's in Ben-Hur. It's in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. The Zero Mostel character.”
Where to get it
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Mansfield Park
Discussed“He's not a lord, you know, like Lord Bertram or whatever in in Mansfield Park or something like that. He's, you know, he's not like Lady Catherine de Bourgh or whatever.”
Where to get it
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The Federalist papers
Recommended“If you have a taste for 18th century language, read the Federalist Papers, um a series of newspaper op-eds arguing um that the Constitution is a you know, a good document that should be ratified.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Plugged The Words That Made Us
“He is the author, among other things, of the brilliant book The Words That Made Us, which explains how a small set of documents birthed an entirely new world.”
Plugged Born Equal
“Born Equal is the title. The subtitle is Remaking America's Constitution, 1840 to 1920. It's the second of three volumes.”
Plugged The Words That Made Us
“We've been talking about the first volume, um The Words That Made Us, America's Constitutional Conversation, 1760 to 1840.”