Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues, 1979–2015. 4th ed. By John R. Vile. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2015. 2 vols. $189 (ISBN 978-1-61069-931-0). Ebook available (978-1-61069-932-7) call for pricing.

Amending (pun totally intended) such works of reference on a semi-regular basis is key to staying current. In this fourth edition author John R. Vile has again made the necessary revisions to reflect the enduring engagement and discourse pertaining to the practice of amending the US Constitution. It should be noted that if you are looking for a straight-forward, chronological overview of the amendments in their historical contexts, this would probably not be the go-to source. Instead, Grey House Publishing Inc.’s Constitutional Amendments: An Encyclopedia of the People, Procedures, Politics, Primary Documents, Campaigns for the 27 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States (2012) or Gale’s Constitutional Amendments: From Freedom of Speech to Flag Burning (2008) would be the preferred choice. Vile’s contribution takes a more nuanced approach to the study of this specialized field by including entries on related (unresolved) issues, influential people and organizations, Supreme Court decisions, and as noted in the title, proposed amendments that failed to pass Congress and ratification. In light of this diverse content, one can see how releasing new editions of the work every so often is indeed warranted.

As for its organization, entries are alphabetic, and listed only as such in the front matter. Because of the varied content, I would have also liked to have seen a thematic clustering of entries somewhere up front, as is often present in such works, but no such luck with this one. There is, however, a “List of Cases” with corresponding page numbers in the back, just before the index. Entries are generally quite concise and to-the-point, with suitable cross-references and strong “Further Reading” suggestions. To give you an idea of what I mean by “concise,” the entry on the “Federal Marriage Protection Amendment” takes up more than two and a half pages (approximately five columns).

The four appendices are nice additions, but only one, I think, is really exceptional. Appendixes A, B, and C consist of the text of the Constitution itself, the dates amendments were proposed and ratified, and a list of the number of proposed amendments by decade—good to have, but all just a Google search away. Appendix D, “Most Popular Amending Proposals by Year and Key Events, and Publications Related to Constitutional Amendments,” however, is a very helpful piece of supplemental material. Lastly, the bibliography is truly a work of art. Vile has had a long and distinguished career as scholar of the US constitutional amendments, and this compilation of important works would be the first place I would look if starting to help a student on any related research endeavor. I would recommend this reference to students from high school through college undergraduate, although the above-mentioned bibliography would be a score for students/researchers at any level.—Todd J. Wiebe, Head of Research and Instruction, Van Wylen Library, Hope College, Holland, Michigan