David talks to historian Linda Colley about her new global history of written constitutions: the paper documents that made and remade the modern world. From Corsica to Pitcairn, from Mexico to Japan, it's an amazing story of war and peace, violence, imagination and fear. Recorded as part of the Cambridge Literary Festival www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.com
Talking Points:
Swords need words: conquest generates a demand for writing and explanation.
By the mid-18th century, big transcontinental wars were becoming more common.
Constitutions can do a lot of things. They can be used to claim territory, for example.
Constitutions are sticky; even failed constitutions leave a legacy.
The U.S. constitution had a disproportionate impact, not just—or even primarily because of its content.
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