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1215, and King John of England agreeing at Runnymede to fix his seal to the Magna Carta. Confronted by angry barons who demanded that he agree in the document to their demands to protect their rights and property from the arbitrary rule of the Crown, the king had consented to avoid civil war. A little more than two months later, however, Pope Innocent III nullified the agreement and England plunged into chaos. But Magna Carta would be revived after John’s death as the basis of English law and eventually be used by American revolutionaries to justify rebellion in defense of liberty.
    â€œAlthough it didn’t really talk much about commoners,” Giancarlo wrote in the opening of his paper that he showed hisdad, “there were two provisions in particular that would have a great impact on the Declaration of Independence, as well as the U.S. Constitution, particularly the Bill of Rights. These two provisions were: ‘No free man shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised, outlawed, banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will We proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.’And,‘To no one will We sell, to no one will We deny or delay, right or justice.’
    â€œThe Fifth Amendment’s provisions that ‘no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law’ comes from Magna Carta’s protections according to the ‘law of the land.’ ”
    Giancarlo was still working on the conclusion to his report and whether the American Revolution had accomplished its stated goals, but he was cruising into his last laps. Zak, on the other hand, was struggling.
    Surprisingly, at least to his parents and teacher, Zak had chosen the Russian Revolution, which to Karp was a much more complicated event. An exceptional athlete who was being recruited by colleges to play baseball, Zak had never been into academics like his brother. He was by no means unintelligent, quite the contrary, but as his high school counselor had beenknown to complain, he was at times “unmotivated” if a subject didn’t interest him.
    History was not one of the motivational subjects. So when he chose to explain how a variety of circumstances led to the Bolsheviks, and their descendant the Communist Party, taking over, Karp asked him why he’d picked such a difficult subject. “I don’t know ,” Zak said with a shrug. “I guess I didn’t know much about it but was curious, since Russia always seems to be in the news these days. They don’t teach us much about American history and the War of Independence, but it’s more than I know about the Russian Revolution. I thought it might be interesting and . . . I don’t know . . . important.”
    The thoughtful response made Karp sit back and consider Zak. He had always been bigger than Giancarlo and favored his ­mother’s Italian side of the family—olive skinned, thick features, and a perpetual five o’clock shadow since his first year in high school. Giancarlo was paler, thinner, a good enough athlete but no star. Both had their mother’s thick, curly black hair and dark eyes, but personality-wise, Zak burned hotter; Giancarlo was more likely to try to think himself (and his brother) out of a situation.
    â€œI think that’s a great choice and I look forward to reading what you have to say,” Karp said, wondering if he was watching his son mature right in front of his eyes.
    â€œBesides, Russian chicks are hot,”Zak added with a grin.
    Maybe not , Karp thought, shaking his head and walking away.
    Still, that night reading in bed with Marlene, he’d noted the apparent shift in Zak’s maturity.
    â€œ Well, he and Giancarlo finally did just get bar mitzvahed,” Marlene said. “Maybe he took the ‘rite of passage to manhood’ seriously.”
    â€œI’d hope so, since