ABSTRACT
The final chapter of the book turns from hypothetical and counterfactual imaginations to a consideration of the U.S. as it is today, as represented in Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in drama for 2019. It also shifts our attention from the more narrowly psychological focus of the other chapters to a concern for what is arguably the most important structural feature of society—the legal system. On the other hand, Schreck’s play clearly suggests that, to a far greater extent than we might initially imagine, societal structures are malleable, subject to the psychological biases and desires, fears and rationalizations of the people who enact, oppose, or interpret them. The point is not without practical consequences.
