Stephen L Carter Books in Order

Stephen L. Carter examines the federal appointments process and the conflicts that turn confirmation hearings into political battles. He traces how the system developed and proposes a more balanced approach to public service and human failings.

Drawing on his experiences with affirmative action, Stephen L. Carter examines racial preferences and their effects on professional life. He considers the benefits, frustrations, and expectations facing Black intellectuals while challenging pressures to conform to prescribed identities.

Stephen L. Carter argues that American law and politics often dismiss religious convictions as irrelevant or suspect. He examines how faith can contribute to public debate while defending space for different sources of moral reasoning.

Stephen L. Carter explores what integrity means and why promises of ethical conduct so often fail. Examples from politics, marriage, and sport connect philosophical questions with the practical difficulties of teaching, practicing, and legislating integrity.

Stephen L. Carter examines the tension between obeying the law and resisting injustice. Religious communities, democratic dialogue, and the Declaration of Independence inform his argument that dissent is essential to legitimate government and civic life.

Stephen L. Carter argues that civility depends on obligations toward other people rather than merely good manners. Drawing on religion, law, and psychology, he considers how families, schools, and public institutions can encourage shared responsibility.

Stephen L. Carter explores the contributions religion can make to American politics and the risks of seeking political power. Historical and contemporary examples help him distinguish principled religious activism from compromises that weaken spiritual independence.

Law professor Talcott Garland confronts a mystery following the death of his father, a disgraced former judge. Cryptic instructions and family secrets draw him into a dangerous investigation linking private loyalties with the world of political power.

When Julia and Lemaster Carlyle discover the body of Julia's former lover, their university community becomes the center of a murder mystery. The investigation connects racial divisions and political influence with secrets reaching decades into the past.

In 1952, writer Eddie Wesley finds a murdered man holding a gold cross after leaving a party. His investigation and his sister's disappearance draw him toward a secret conspiracy aimed at manipulating the American presidency.

Beck DeForde visits her dying former lover, ex-CIA chief Jericho Ainsley, expecting a farewell. Instead, an explosive secret draws her into a struggle among governments and corporations determined to seize what he knows.

Stephen L. Carter examines Barack Obama's early approach to warfare through the tradition of just war. The book considers Iraq, Afghanistan, terrorism, and intervention, asking how presidential words and actions reconcile military force with peace.

In an alternate history, Abraham Lincoln survives assassination but faces impeachment. Aspiring lawyer Abigail Canner joins his defense team, then investigates a lawyer's murder as political conspiracies threaten the president and her own ambitions.

Disgraced former cop Perry Christo, now a private investigator, is hired to find the wealthy daughter of an Upper East Side socialite. The search moves through wintry New York and the Hamptons in a serial noir novel written chapter by chapter by twenty mystery authors.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cornell student Margo Jensen becomes an unlikely secret intermediary. Pursued by advocates of war on both sides, she must navigate international intrigue while discovering connections to her own family's hidden past.

Stephen L. Carter reconstructs the life of his grandmother, prosecutor Eunice Hunton Carter. Her role in the case against Lucky Luciano anchors an account of legal achievement, racial prejudice, gender barriers, and difficult family loyalties.