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Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy
Listening Length: 6 hours
The first book from Joyce White equal parts civics class, history lesson, and call to save the Republic, Giving Up Is Unforgivable is a political manifesto for our present moment.
“We’re in this together.”
For the past two years, Joyce Vance has signed off posts on her chart-topping Substack, Civil Discourse, with these four words. In that time, she’s guided readers through a continued erosion of democratic norms, the unprecedented felony conviction of an ex-president, and the approaching specter of a second Trump administration. Now that it’s upon us, Vance helps us understand how to avoid burnout and despair and exercise the democratic muscles we need to save the Republic.
Giving Up Is Unforgivable is a clarion call to action—putting our current crisis in historical context and sketching out a vision for where we go next. Vance’s message is hopeful at its heart, even as it acknowledges the daunting challenges that lie ahead. She is the constitutional law professor you never knew you needed, explaining the legal context, the political history, and the practical reasons that the rule of law still matters, while also empowering you to do something—from the small (that conversation you’ve been meaning to have with your uncle or volunteering for your favorite political cause) to the big (starting a grassroots movement or running for political office).
Consider this the birth of a countermovement to Project 2025, a rallying cry for citizen engagement to counter the second Trump administration and save American democracy.
The first book from Joyce White equal parts civics class, history lesson, and call to save the Republic, Giving Up Is Unforgivable is a political manifesto for our present moment.
“We’re in this together.”
For the past two years, Joyce Vance has signed off posts on her chart-topping Substack, Civil Discourse, with these four words. In that time, she’s guided readers through a continued erosion of democratic norms, the unprecedented felony conviction of an ex-president, and the approaching specter of a second Trump administration. Now that it’s upon us, Vance helps us understand how to avoid burnout and despair and exercise the democratic muscles we need to save the Republic.
Giving Up Is Unforgivable is a clarion call to action—putting our current crisis in historical context and sketching out a vision for where we go next. Vance’s message is hopeful at its heart, even as it acknowledges the daunting challenges that lie ahead. She is the constitutional law professor you never knew you needed, explaining the legal context, the political history, and the practical reasons that the rule of law still matters, while also empowering you to do something—from the small (that conversation you’ve been meaning to have with your uncle or volunteering for your favorite political cause) to the big (starting a grassroots movement or running for political office).
Consider this the birth of a countermovement to Project 2025, a rallying cry for citizen engagement to counter the second Trump administration and save American democracy.
6 pages, Audiobook
First published October 21, 2025
232 people are currently reading
867 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 31, 2025
Introduction
I love that Joyce Vance engaged me from the get-go. I was startled to read “That vision of an inclusive America is threatening to some people. They are afraid of us.” That really made me think. How sad to be afraid of inclusion, which is so much better for everyone than the alternative, fascism which is what we are facing right now and must take up the challenge to resist.
“It’s an educated public capable of informed civil discourse that sustains effective, fair government. Accountability happens when citizens demand it.” And we must demand it.
Chapter 1 Don’t Be the Frog – outlines the parameters of our present constitutional crisis
Vance uses the analogy of the frog in hot water – the water is heating slowly, and the frog doesn’t realize that it’s being cooked until it is too late. In business or government, “The warning signs develop so gradually that leadership doesn’t shift course until it’s too late.”
“Despite the clear evidence, many people refused to believe the water would really some to a boil if [Trump] was reelected. They’d forgotten what they’d lived through during his first term in office.”
This train of thought resonated with me, as I think the pandemic either literally caused us to struggle with short-term memory due to having had Covid or it was such a terrible time we psychologically blocked out the memory of those years, as we didn’t want to remember.
During Trump’s presidential campaign “Project 2025 became so unpopular when it was aired in public that Trump took pains to distance himself from it.” People believed him when he said that he had no idea what it was. However, once inaugurated, his administration proceeded in earnest to put Project 2025 in action and people were surprised and dismayed.
I like the analogy of the three branches of government being like a three-legged stool where you need all three legs for the stool to balance and remain upright.
“If there is a magic bullet for preserving democracy, it is this: prevent any one branch of government from holding too much power, especially power that the Constitution specifically gives to another branch of government.”
The Trump Administration used “mob boss-level intimidation, including canceling lawyers’ security clearances, denying firm employees access to federal property, terminating existing government contracts the firms had" to make large law firms tow the line and work for him rather than against him. “The executive orders were harsh enough that some of the [law] firms were concerned about going out of business.” Trump wielded the justice system as “tools for revenge.”
“The power to create laws, the Court reiterated belongs to Congress, and to Congress exclusively.”
“Indeed, judicial review is one of our most essential aids in challenging times, so long as judges live up to the role assigned to them.”
“It was clear that the new president was trying to aggregate the power of the three branches of government in his own hands.”
“The time-honored tradition of Americans is to stand together.” We must “jump out of the pot before it comes to a boil, and bring the other frogs with [us] as well.”
Chapter 2 The Myth of Broken Institutions - is about institutions: How they were designed to work and how we can strengthen them.
“They [institutions] evolve; they have reach. These institutions are populated by individuals with a deep commitment to democracy, the career civil service.” It is vital to democracy to have “a civil service loyal to the Constitution and its mission, not to any one president.”
“We order our society in a democratic fashion so deeply ingrained that although we have fallen into the habit of taking it for granted, it is the foundation for our way of life.”
“The administration’s other strategy for setting aside the rule of law was delegitimizing judges who ruled against its new policies.”
“When the public perpetuates narratives that the institutions are broken and talks about walking away from them, it plays into his hands and makes his ascension to power that much easier.” We must stand up for our institutions.
“The Founding Fathers did believe in a powerful executive. But they emphasized, at the same time, that a president must be accountable.”
“In order to keep the presidency from becoming too powerful, Congress and the courts hold some share of power for their own and have the ability to check the executive branch. Other institutions, like the press, the unofficial forth branch of government, hold a president accountable by educating the electorate. Our military is civilian led, a deliberate choice made to lessen the risk of a military coup.”
“A president who wants to do away with restraints on the way he exercises power will weaken, or try to fatally damage, the institutions that can check him.”
“Much has been written about the public’s loss of confidence in the courts – or to be more precise, the Supreme Court.” However, “it is not the structural institution itself that is lacking; it is the people who populate it and their personal failures. Our job as citizens is not to abandon the courts but rather to demand better from them.”
“The Supreme Court is not the entirety of the court system. Indeed, some district judges and court of appeals judges seem to have grasped the credibility issue more readily than the Supreme Court has.”
“Collectively, as voters, as citizens, as concerned Americans, we have power […] We direct the priorities our elected officials must focus on if they want to remain in office.”
We have "a First Amendment right to assemble and petition our government, a right to free speech and a free press. They are ours to insist upon or lose. Americans must insist.”
“As Americans, we should treat democracy the same way: the practice of democracy, something we do together as Americans. When we make mistakes, even big ones, we can learn from them. We dig deeper so we can fix them. We get back to work. But what we cannot do is give up.”
Chapter 3 How Democracy Works for Us - answers “The question that is at the very core of this book: Why is democracy, despite its imperfections, worth having?”
“If we acknowledge that American democracy was marred by its flaws at birth – slavery, misogyny, and classism among them – we must also acknowledge that it is capable of advancing beyond them and continuously expanding the groups of people and individuals to whom it extends its promise.”
“Despite its inherent imperfections, our democracy has advanced equity, freedom, and justice.” Democracy belongs to the American people. “Democracy forces leaders to consider citizens’ views.”
“People who live under monarchies or dictatorships desperately long for what we have been, even if it’s imperfect. They’d prefer to determine the course of their own lives rather than let a leader who took power do it for them.”
Chapter 4 A New Lost Cause - draws out the lessons we can learn from the Founding Fathers, literature, and American History (especially the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement) as we confront the current menace.
On January 6, 2021, “As we watched and listened, we realized that we were in the middle of an attempted coup, intended to interfere with the transfer of power from one duly elected president to another, for the first time in our nation’s history.”
“Following January 6, emotions ran high but there was no moment when Donald Trump faced the truth about what he had done to the country. He has never publicly apologized or even acknowledged he was wrong.”
“When Trump left the White House, the culture he created didn’t go away. With no closure and in the absence of accountability for January 6, Trump was free to rewrite the story into a Lost Cause mythology of his own, complete with true patriots – the guys in masks who attacked police officers, defecated in the Capitol, and threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence. Senate Republicans failed to hold Trump accountable.”
“The rule of law is not an abstract concept. It has strong practical effects on our daily lives. The powerful can’t steal with impunity from those who are weaker.”
“The rule of law is one of the reasons that people from other countries have felt comfortable making investments in the United States in past decades: A stable rule of law society protects even foreign investors’ interests.”
“Donald Trump, from the start of his first term in office, acted as though the rule of law didn’t apply to him.”
Founding Father Thomas Paine “published Common Sense on January 10, 1776, he helped America understand what was possible if they took responsibility for their own fate.”
“In Common Sense, Paine explained the weaknesses of kings like this: Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.”
“If you want to ask Trump “Have you no sense of decency?” make him face Democratic majorities in both bodies of Congress.”
Chapter 5 RBG’s Umbrella - goes deep on the act that is the foundation of our democracy: Voting
“The next election is always the most important one of our lives.”
“The right to vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument in a democratic society. We must use it. – John Lewis.”
“If you want to save democracy, persuade potential voters who don’t vote, or don’t vote regularly, that their participation is essential.”
“In Shelby County v. Holder, Justice Ginsburg took the majority to task for failing to honor the long-standing tradition of protecting the right to vote. In her dissenting opinion, she quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and when she read her dissent from the bench that day in 2013, she added a crucial point of emphasis: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice if there is a steadfast commitment to see the task through to completion.”
Additionally, “She wrote, with prescient clarity, that ending preclearance
was “like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.””
Chapter 6 We Are the Cavalry - the most important chapter of the book, spells out what you can do, and what we can achieve together.
“We have one another, a community of like-minded people across the country who care about democracy.”
“The fact that you start down a road doesn’t mean your final destination is inevitable.”
“The most important piece of knowledge to carry with you is that you are not powerless.”
“Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who fought back against Soviet oppression by exposing it, wrote, “The simple step of a courageous man is not to take part in the lie.””
“We can check a runaway president with our protests and with our votes.”
Rules for the cavalry
1. Be Smart
2. Be in Community
3. Never Bet against America. Believe that government works.
4. Understand That Protecting Democracy Comes in a Lot of Flavors.
5. Decide Who You Are and Stick to It.
6. Be the Hope
7. Take Baby Steps
8. Exercise Your Rights
To quote President Biden- “Democracy is never guaranteed. Every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it.”
“Younger generations believe democracy has failed them, and they don’t believe it can be fixed because they’ve never seen it happen.” Another statement that surprised me and made me think.
“Ultimately, the only way a dictator can hold power is by controlling the flow of information and resorting to the spread of disinformation that serves his purposes and permits him to retain authority.”
“Executive orders can impact the executive branch of government, but they can’t tell citizens what to think or feel or how to behave. They have no force over us.”
Trump canceled celebrations such as Black History month by executive order. However, we have the right “to celebrate our fellow citizens’ contributions to our country. As Americans, we have that right and we should exercise it, joyfully and together.”
“Don’t give up hope. Pick one small thing you can do this week and get started. And then keep going.” “We keep the Republic by being stubborn and steadfast.”
Conclusion
“Stay informed, stay engaged, and bring others along with us. We need to be fearless about talking with people around us and explaining why democracy matters, the damage that is being done to it, and what we can do to protect it.”
“We keep the Republic by being stubborn and steadfast.”
“Never give up on talking with the people around you, the ones who have decided to look away and tolerate what’s happening.”
“We must persist until we succeed. Make your love of this country, despite her imperfections, relentless and refuse to give up. American citizenship confers a great responsibility. We must do our best, together, to live up to it.”
I follow Joyce Vance's Substack “Civil Discourse” and every night she signs off with “We’re in this together” and I truly find it comforting and inspiring. She is one of my trusted sources for information.
I love that Joyce Vance engaged me from the get-go. I was startled to read “That vision of an inclusive America is threatening to some people. They are afraid of us.” That really made me think. How sad to be afraid of inclusion, which is so much better for everyone than the alternative, fascism which is what we are facing right now and must take up the challenge to resist.
“It’s an educated public capable of informed civil discourse that sustains effective, fair government. Accountability happens when citizens demand it.” And we must demand it.
Chapter 1 Don’t Be the Frog – outlines the parameters of our present constitutional crisis
Vance uses the analogy of the frog in hot water – the water is heating slowly, and the frog doesn’t realize that it’s being cooked until it is too late. In business or government, “The warning signs develop so gradually that leadership doesn’t shift course until it’s too late.”
“Despite the clear evidence, many people refused to believe the water would really some to a boil if [Trump] was reelected. They’d forgotten what they’d lived through during his first term in office.”
This train of thought resonated with me, as I think the pandemic either literally caused us to struggle with short-term memory due to having had Covid or it was such a terrible time we psychologically blocked out the memory of those years, as we didn’t want to remember.
During Trump’s presidential campaign “Project 2025 became so unpopular when it was aired in public that Trump took pains to distance himself from it.” People believed him when he said that he had no idea what it was. However, once inaugurated, his administration proceeded in earnest to put Project 2025 in action and people were surprised and dismayed.
I like the analogy of the three branches of government being like a three-legged stool where you need all three legs for the stool to balance and remain upright.
“If there is a magic bullet for preserving democracy, it is this: prevent any one branch of government from holding too much power, especially power that the Constitution specifically gives to another branch of government.”
The Trump Administration used “mob boss-level intimidation, including canceling lawyers’ security clearances, denying firm employees access to federal property, terminating existing government contracts the firms had" to make large law firms tow the line and work for him rather than against him. “The executive orders were harsh enough that some of the [law] firms were concerned about going out of business.” Trump wielded the justice system as “tools for revenge.”
“The power to create laws, the Court reiterated belongs to Congress, and to Congress exclusively.”
“Indeed, judicial review is one of our most essential aids in challenging times, so long as judges live up to the role assigned to them.”
“It was clear that the new president was trying to aggregate the power of the three branches of government in his own hands.”
“The time-honored tradition of Americans is to stand together.” We must “jump out of the pot before it comes to a boil, and bring the other frogs with [us] as well.”
Chapter 2 The Myth of Broken Institutions - is about institutions: How they were designed to work and how we can strengthen them.
“They [institutions] evolve; they have reach. These institutions are populated by individuals with a deep commitment to democracy, the career civil service.” It is vital to democracy to have “a civil service loyal to the Constitution and its mission, not to any one president.”
“We order our society in a democratic fashion so deeply ingrained that although we have fallen into the habit of taking it for granted, it is the foundation for our way of life.”
“The administration’s other strategy for setting aside the rule of law was delegitimizing judges who ruled against its new policies.”
“When the public perpetuates narratives that the institutions are broken and talks about walking away from them, it plays into his hands and makes his ascension to power that much easier.” We must stand up for our institutions.
“The Founding Fathers did believe in a powerful executive. But they emphasized, at the same time, that a president must be accountable.”
“In order to keep the presidency from becoming too powerful, Congress and the courts hold some share of power for their own and have the ability to check the executive branch. Other institutions, like the press, the unofficial forth branch of government, hold a president accountable by educating the electorate. Our military is civilian led, a deliberate choice made to lessen the risk of a military coup.”
“A president who wants to do away with restraints on the way he exercises power will weaken, or try to fatally damage, the institutions that can check him.”
“Much has been written about the public’s loss of confidence in the courts – or to be more precise, the Supreme Court.” However, “it is not the structural institution itself that is lacking; it is the people who populate it and their personal failures. Our job as citizens is not to abandon the courts but rather to demand better from them.”
“The Supreme Court is not the entirety of the court system. Indeed, some district judges and court of appeals judges seem to have grasped the credibility issue more readily than the Supreme Court has.”
“Collectively, as voters, as citizens, as concerned Americans, we have power […] We direct the priorities our elected officials must focus on if they want to remain in office.”
We have "a First Amendment right to assemble and petition our government, a right to free speech and a free press. They are ours to insist upon or lose. Americans must insist.”
“As Americans, we should treat democracy the same way: the practice of democracy, something we do together as Americans. When we make mistakes, even big ones, we can learn from them. We dig deeper so we can fix them. We get back to work. But what we cannot do is give up.”
Chapter 3 How Democracy Works for Us - answers “The question that is at the very core of this book: Why is democracy, despite its imperfections, worth having?”
“If we acknowledge that American democracy was marred by its flaws at birth – slavery, misogyny, and classism among them – we must also acknowledge that it is capable of advancing beyond them and continuously expanding the groups of people and individuals to whom it extends its promise.”
“Despite its inherent imperfections, our democracy has advanced equity, freedom, and justice.” Democracy belongs to the American people. “Democracy forces leaders to consider citizens’ views.”
“People who live under monarchies or dictatorships desperately long for what we have been, even if it’s imperfect. They’d prefer to determine the course of their own lives rather than let a leader who took power do it for them.”
Chapter 4 A New Lost Cause - draws out the lessons we can learn from the Founding Fathers, literature, and American History (especially the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement) as we confront the current menace.
On January 6, 2021, “As we watched and listened, we realized that we were in the middle of an attempted coup, intended to interfere with the transfer of power from one duly elected president to another, for the first time in our nation’s history.”
“Following January 6, emotions ran high but there was no moment when Donald Trump faced the truth about what he had done to the country. He has never publicly apologized or even acknowledged he was wrong.”
“When Trump left the White House, the culture he created didn’t go away. With no closure and in the absence of accountability for January 6, Trump was free to rewrite the story into a Lost Cause mythology of his own, complete with true patriots – the guys in masks who attacked police officers, defecated in the Capitol, and threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence. Senate Republicans failed to hold Trump accountable.”
“The rule of law is not an abstract concept. It has strong practical effects on our daily lives. The powerful can’t steal with impunity from those who are weaker.”
“The rule of law is one of the reasons that people from other countries have felt comfortable making investments in the United States in past decades: A stable rule of law society protects even foreign investors’ interests.”
“Donald Trump, from the start of his first term in office, acted as though the rule of law didn’t apply to him.”
Founding Father Thomas Paine “published Common Sense on January 10, 1776, he helped America understand what was possible if they took responsibility for their own fate.”
“In Common Sense, Paine explained the weaknesses of kings like this: Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.”
“If you want to ask Trump “Have you no sense of decency?” make him face Democratic majorities in both bodies of Congress.”
Chapter 5 RBG’s Umbrella - goes deep on the act that is the foundation of our democracy: Voting
“The next election is always the most important one of our lives.”
“The right to vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument in a democratic society. We must use it. – John Lewis.”
“If you want to save democracy, persuade potential voters who don’t vote, or don’t vote regularly, that their participation is essential.”
“In Shelby County v. Holder, Justice Ginsburg took the majority to task for failing to honor the long-standing tradition of protecting the right to vote. In her dissenting opinion, she quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and when she read her dissent from the bench that day in 2013, she added a crucial point of emphasis: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice if there is a steadfast commitment to see the task through to completion.”
Additionally, “She wrote, with prescient clarity, that ending preclearance
was “like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.””
Chapter 6 We Are the Cavalry - the most important chapter of the book, spells out what you can do, and what we can achieve together.
“We have one another, a community of like-minded people across the country who care about democracy.”
“The fact that you start down a road doesn’t mean your final destination is inevitable.”
“The most important piece of knowledge to carry with you is that you are not powerless.”
“Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who fought back against Soviet oppression by exposing it, wrote, “The simple step of a courageous man is not to take part in the lie.””
“We can check a runaway president with our protests and with our votes.”
Rules for the cavalry
1. Be Smart
2. Be in Community
3. Never Bet against America. Believe that government works.
4. Understand That Protecting Democracy Comes in a Lot of Flavors.
5. Decide Who You Are and Stick to It.
6. Be the Hope
7. Take Baby Steps
8. Exercise Your Rights
To quote President Biden- “Democracy is never guaranteed. Every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it.”
“Younger generations believe democracy has failed them, and they don’t believe it can be fixed because they’ve never seen it happen.” Another statement that surprised me and made me think.
“Ultimately, the only way a dictator can hold power is by controlling the flow of information and resorting to the spread of disinformation that serves his purposes and permits him to retain authority.”
“Executive orders can impact the executive branch of government, but they can’t tell citizens what to think or feel or how to behave. They have no force over us.”
Trump canceled celebrations such as Black History month by executive order. However, we have the right “to celebrate our fellow citizens’ contributions to our country. As Americans, we have that right and we should exercise it, joyfully and together.”
“Don’t give up hope. Pick one small thing you can do this week and get started. And then keep going.” “We keep the Republic by being stubborn and steadfast.”
Conclusion
“Stay informed, stay engaged, and bring others along with us. We need to be fearless about talking with people around us and explaining why democracy matters, the damage that is being done to it, and what we can do to protect it.”
“We keep the Republic by being stubborn and steadfast.”
“Never give up on talking with the people around you, the ones who have decided to look away and tolerate what’s happening.”
“We must persist until we succeed. Make your love of this country, despite her imperfections, relentless and refuse to give up. American citizenship confers a great responsibility. We must do our best, together, to live up to it.”
I follow Joyce Vance's Substack “Civil Discourse” and every night she signs off with “We’re in this together” and I truly find it comforting and inspiring. She is one of my trusted sources for information.
October 24, 2025
Understanding where we are and where we need to go. Next up, read the Federalist papers.
October 26, 2025
This is an uplifting look at where we are in the rapidly evolving political landscape that includes words of wisdom, hope, and a call to action.
Read
October 29, 2025Well, only one of the chapters is a manual for how to take action. The overwhelming majority of the text recaps recent events and other history. A more apt title might have been, "This Sure Has Been a Lot, Hasn't It?"
October 29, 2025
More and more people are asking what they need to know and what they can do to help save democracy, civil rights, human rights right now.
I think this book is a good place to start.
The author calls it a “part call to arms, part How-To manual,” and after reading it myself, I agree.
It sifts through the noise of the news to focus on what we as Americans are supposed to have protected but are at risk of losing (or already lost), gives some historical and legal context in laymen’s terms, then tells us what we the regular folks can to do save those rights and protections.
I’ve read her newsletter Civil Discourse since it launched in 2022, finding it educational and instructional on not just the high profile court cases in the news, but how they affect / why they should be important to me as a regular citizen who values democracy and civil rights.
A theme that runs through the newsletter is also prominent in her book: we the people have a collective power, but to protect democracy and civil rights, “Americans must insist.”
This book gives us clarity, facts and tools to do so effectively. I definitely recommend reading/listening to it now.
I think this book is a good place to start.
The author calls it a “part call to arms, part How-To manual,” and after reading it myself, I agree.
It sifts through the noise of the news to focus on what we as Americans are supposed to have protected but are at risk of losing (or already lost), gives some historical and legal context in laymen’s terms, then tells us what we the regular folks can to do save those rights and protections.
I’ve read her newsletter Civil Discourse since it launched in 2022, finding it educational and instructional on not just the high profile court cases in the news, but how they affect / why they should be important to me as a regular citizen who values democracy and civil rights.
A theme that runs through the newsletter is also prominent in her book: we the people have a collective power, but to protect democracy and civil rights, “Americans must insist.”
This book gives us clarity, facts and tools to do so effectively. I definitely recommend reading/listening to it now.
October 31, 2025
With the constant, daily assaults on our democracy here in the U.S., I didn't think I was in the mood for this book, despite loving Joyce Vance's daily newsletter and analysis. However, I absolutely inhaled this book on audio, finishing it in one day, and I plan to listen to it again this weekend with my husband. It turns out that this book was exactly what I needed to feel inspired, hopeful, and eager to fight for a better country and a better world.
October 24, 2025
3.75 stars
Read
October 30, 2025Great discussion of the current political situation in the US and history and importance of democracy
October 31, 2025
I enjoyed this short book about democracy and history.
A couple of takeaways. Stay connected and aware. Democracy is a process, something to treasure, something to fight for.
A couple of takeaways. Stay connected and aware. Democracy is a process, something to treasure, something to fight for.
October 31, 2025
- Small book, punchy but not deep as expected due to # of pages
October 31, 2025
Thank you for giving me hope again, Joyce! Some good reminders and tips on how we can fight to keep our democracy and examples of how it has been stretched and saved in the past.
October 31, 2025
Joyce's insight is tremendous and inspirational. The title is aspirational but after reading Giving Up is Unforgivable, you will be energized and ready to stand fast and fight to restore democratic rule of law. I wish I could give this book 10 stars or more.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews