Our government is failing us. From health care to immigration, from the deficit to climate change, our political institutions have long shown that they are incapable of meeting the challenges of modern society. Why the dysfunction?

In Relic, William Howell and Terry Moe point to the Constitution as the main culprit. The framers designed a government for a simple, agrarian society—and that government is unsuited to a huge, complex, post-industrial nation the founders did not even remotely foresee. Howell and Moe argue that we need a second Progressive movement to bring reform to American government, above all by strengthening the power of the president. Relic challenges us to reconsider the very foundation of our political system, shedding new light on what is wrong with our government and what can be done about it.