On May 21, The Lit Salon will feature New York Times bestselling author A.J. Jacobs at the launch of his new book The Year of Living Constitutionally. The book chronicles his hilarious adventures in attempting to follow the original meaning of the Constitution, as he searches for answers to one of the most pressing issues of our time: How should we interpret America’s foundational document?

A.J. Jacobs learned the hard way that donning a tricorne hat and marching around Manhattan with a 1700s musket will earn you a lot of strange looks. In The Year of Living Constitutionally., A.J. Jacobs tries to get inside the minds of the Founding Fathers by living as closely as possible to the original meaning of the Constitution. He asserts his right to free speech by writing his opinions on parchment with a quill and handing them out to strangers in Times Square. He consents to quartering a soldier, as is his Third Amendment right. He turns his home into a traditional 1790s household by lighting candles instead of using electricity, boiling mutton, and—because women were not allowed to sign contracts— feebly attempting to take over his wife’s day job, which involves a lot of contract negotiations.

The book blends unforgettable adventures—delivering a handwritten petition to Congress, applying for a Letter of Marque to become a legal pirate for the government, and battling redcoats as part of a Revolutionary War reenactment group—with dozens of interviews from constitutional experts from both sides. Jacobs dives deep into originalism and living constitutionalism, the two rival ways of interpreting the document.

Much like he did with the Bible in The Year of Living Biblically,, Jacobs provides a crash course on our Constitution as he experiences the benefits and perils of living like it’s the 1790s.

Livestream tickets are $10, or free for Untapped New York Insiders. In-person tickets can be purchased here. All sales final. 

The Lit Salon is produced by Maison Brooklyn, with special partners Aerangis, Ode à la Rose (a same-day NYC flower delivery service), Fort Hamilton Distillery and Untapped New York. 

A.J. Jacobs is a journalist, lecturer, and human guinea pig who has written four bestselling books—including Drop Dead Healthy and The Year of Living Biblically,—that blend memoir, science, humor, and a dash of self-help. A contributor to NPR, The New York Times, and Esquire, among other media outlets, Jacobs lives in New York City with his family.

Michelle Young is the author of Secret Brooklyn, Secret New York: Hidden Bars & Restaurants, Broadway, and the forthcoming narrative non-fiction book, The Art Spy, to be published by HarperOne, an imprint of Harper Collins. The Art Spy was Publisher’s Weekly Deal of the Week in August 2022. Michelle is also the founder of Untapped New York,, a Professor of Architecture at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and a scholar in the New York Public Library’s Allen Room. Michelle’s writing and photography have been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Hyperallergic, The Forward, Business Insider, Curbed, Metropolis Magazine and more. She was featured on the History Channel production The Engineering That Built the World, Netflix’s Stay Here, Smithsonian Channel’s Searching for Secrets, PBS’ 10 That Changed America, National Geographic’s Strange Truths, and Tell Me Something I Don’t Know with Stephen Dubner.