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Rearview Mirror Chronicles
Keith Hockton, FRAS, is a writer, publisher, and award-winning podcaster based in Penang, Malaysia, with a deep passion for uncovering the stories that shaped our world. As the Southeast Asia Editor for International Living magazine, Keith explores the intersections of history, culture, and modern life across the region.
A dynamic lecturer and storyteller, he speaks internationally on Southeast Asian politics, economics, and history—bringing the past to life with clarity, wit, and insight. Keith is also a proud Fellow of The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland and is on a mission to make history not only accessible but genuinely entertaining for everyone.
His published books include:
• Atlas of Australian Dive Sites - Travellers Edition (Harper Collins Australia, 2003).
• Penang - An inside guide to its historic homes, buildings, monuments and parks (MPH Publishing, 2012; 2nd Edition 2014; 3rd Edition 2017).
• Festivals of Malaysia (Trafalgar Publishing, 2015).
• The Habitat Penang Hill: A pocket history (Entrepot Publishing, 2018)
• Alana and the Secret Life of Trees at Night (Entrepot Publishing, 2018)
• Penang Then & Now: A Century of Change in Pictures (Entrepot Publishing, 2019; 2nd Edition 2021
• Bersama Lima - Five Together (Entrepot Publishing, 2022)
www.entrepotpublishing.com
Rearview Mirror Chronicles
The Constitution: The Blueprint That Built America (Part Two)
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
The Declaration of Independence gave America its ideals. The Constitution gave it something just as important: a way to survive.
In Part Two of this special series, Keith explores the remarkable story behind the world's oldest written national constitution still in force. Why did the Articles of Confederation fail? How did fifty-five delegates in a sweltering Philadelphia summer create a system of government that has endured for nearly 240 years? And did the Founding Fathers ever expect it to last this long?
From the opening words, "We the People," to the separation of powers, the Bill of Rights, the slavery compromises, the Supreme Court, and the extraordinary debate between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison over whether a constitution should expire every generation, this episode uncovers not only how America was governed, but why its Constitution remains one of the most influential, and controversial, documents ever written.
More than two centuries later, it continues to shape not just the United States, but the future of democracy itself.
For books written and published by Keith Hocton