It has been a few days since posting. It took longer than I thought it would to resurrect. Perhaps it is because I have misplaced the crystal sphere which should surround - oh, wait, sorry, wrong cult.
Himmelfarb's book was reviewed in the NYRB, largely to devastating effect by Alan Ryan. It was also reviewed recently in the November 12 TLS by Jonathan Clark. It is not quite so unforgiving as Ryan's, but the TLS review is also, all in all, not positive.
There is also a review of Waldron's book on Locke, referenced in a recent comment here. The review was a might short to get much sense of the argument. It notes that for Waldron, Locke's egalitarianism is founded in his Christianity. (I will add it to the long list of books to be read.) Interesting as a piece of intellectual history, but I don't see that it could be more -- or more specifically, I don't see how anyone could make the argument that one needs a Christian foundation to egalitarianism as an aside. That Locke grounds his view in a church is not exactly a compelling argument for anyone else to follow. I should note that the reviewer (John Tasioulas) is also skeptical of a Rawlsian approach to political theory. Ahh, it is getting coolish in these parts.
And there is a review of Larry Kramer's book on the US Constitution (see Kramer v. Kramer and this below). It can be found here. It is a good deal longer and more detailed than the Tribe review, but it comes to relevantly similar conclusions. (Even though they let me do reviews from time to time, I think this a good resource - Groucho was not right about everything.) There is also a review of Randy Barnett's book, which I mention as I have written a fair amount it at this site.
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