Newmyer (law and history, U. of Connecticut School of Law) synthesizes the scholarship on the Supreme Court during the tenures of Chief Justices John Marshall (1801-1835) and Roger Brooke Taney (1836-1864). Over the course of the text he deals with a number of significant questions important to study of the Court during this era, including Marbury v. Madison and the question of judicial power, state porwer and agrarian capitalism, the Court and the rise of the American business corporation, the continuing influence of Justice Marshall on the Taney Court, and the fugitive slave question and the Dred Scott decision. Annotation 2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)