What do you think?
Rate this book
Been There, Done That: How Our History Shows What We Can Overcome
Professor Greg Jackson, podcast host of History That Doesn’t Suck, proves that while today’s political climate may be dark, these aren’t as unprecedented times as we may think.
Our nation’s past is full of massive upheaval, disagreement, and anything but the moral high ground. The political gentlemanly conduct of yesteryear is no more than a myth. In Been There, Done That, Greg looks back in time to eight examples from our nation’s history and shows that some of the hottest issues of our day are, in fact, American traditions. He takes us
1) The Founding Father’s hyper-partisan print war of the 1790s
2) Baltimore’s deadly partisan riots of 1812
3) The “corrupt bargain” presidential election of 1824, and its slanderous, libelous, fake-news-filled rematch, the presidential election of 1828
4) The caning of Senator Charles Sumner in 1856
5) The nation’s first presidential assassination and impeachment in the wake of the Civil War
6) Louisiana’s civil war in miniature over a disputed election in the 1870s
7) The thoroughly corrupt presidential election of 1876
8) Fake news at its most the yellow journalism and print war of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randoph Hearst
Full of fascinating characters, page-turning narrative storytelling, and Greg’s characteristic humor, Been There, Done That will fill readers with hope for our future by showing us the warts of our past—only by knowing that our country has been here before, and prevailed toward a more just future, can we find the strength to rebound once more.
Our nation’s past is full of massive upheaval, disagreement, and anything but the moral high ground. The political gentlemanly conduct of yesteryear is no more than a myth. In Been There, Done That, Greg looks back in time to eight examples from our nation’s history and shows that some of the hottest issues of our day are, in fact, American traditions. He takes us
1) The Founding Father’s hyper-partisan print war of the 1790s
2) Baltimore’s deadly partisan riots of 1812
3) The “corrupt bargain” presidential election of 1824, and its slanderous, libelous, fake-news-filled rematch, the presidential election of 1828
4) The caning of Senator Charles Sumner in 1856
5) The nation’s first presidential assassination and impeachment in the wake of the Civil War
6) Louisiana’s civil war in miniature over a disputed election in the 1870s
7) The thoroughly corrupt presidential election of 1876
8) Fake news at its most the yellow journalism and print war of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randoph Hearst
Full of fascinating characters, page-turning narrative storytelling, and Greg’s characteristic humor, Been There, Done That will fill readers with hope for our future by showing us the warts of our past—only by knowing that our country has been here before, and prevailed toward a more just future, can we find the strength to rebound once more.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
432 pages, Hardcover
Published June 16, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 30, 2026
Definitely cool reading a book and getting to see the author talk about it live! Makes me think about what I might add to my US history course this year!!
June 18, 2026
Required Reading For Every American Who Thinks These Are Unprecedented Times. Yes, I mean exactly what I said in the title of this review. No matter your particular bent of what you think is so bad - election/ voting fraud, political violence, "fake news", whatever - Jackson does a tremendous job here of taking mostly examples even *I*, as studious of American History as I've been all my life, had either never or barely heard of and uses them to show, as Alex Wright's Empire Of Ink (releasing on the same day and covering the "wild and wooly" early history of newspapers in America, which has some bearing on some aspects of this tale as well) also does quite well, how "history doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme" (a quote misattributed to Mark Twain).
As James Morone's 2021 book Republic Of Wrath showed, political violence in the US is actually at a rather historical *low* point in this current era (thankfully), yes, even with the repeated attempted assassinations over the last couple of years of President Trump. Here, Jackson shows this quite well indeed, covering both Baltimore riots in 1812, Lincoln's assassination, the caning of Senator Charles Sumner in the leadup to the Civil War (which Robert W. Merry makes the central focus of his book Decade of Disunion), and more.
If you think voting irregularities - either "voter suppression" or "voter fraud" (both dog whistles to their respective sides that have been objectively shown to be minimal and not deterministic of outcomes in these last several years in particular) - are historically bad, Jackson shows you with several instances of mostly 19th century US history just how wrong you actually are, and how much worse things could actually be. (Though them getting as bad as they were in the age of the Internet as we currently know it - which could be changing if the US and other governments begin implementing planned age and identity verification restrictions - seems quite a long shot indeed, as Jackson shows here.)
If you think "fake news" is historically bad, again, Jackson uses the early days of corporate newspapers - where Wright's Empire Of Ink ends its own tale - to show you just how wrong you actually are, and again, how the open Internet actually helps make the truth more readily accessible to anyone who chooses to seek it out.
In the end, this is a book designed for exactly one purpose: to use largely forgotten and certainly rarely if ever taught even at the collegiate US History major levels American history to show that the times we are currently in are in fact not unprecedented. Yes, they are bad - Jackson takes pains to never actually minimize current struggles at all. But in showing how we have survived times that are *so much worse*, Jackson ultimately gives us all - even the most pessimistic among us - at least a modicum of hope that the naysayers and doomseekers are in fact completely wrong, both about our past and about our future. Combined with the wave of European tourism for the World Cup taking over social media and showing Americans just how good and awesome our nation actually is relative to the rest of the world today that is ongoing as this book finally reaches publication (in a great bit of fortuitous, to a degree, timing), this really is one of the better, more optimistic books to be reading particularly in its initial release days just ahead of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Very much recommended.
As James Morone's 2021 book Republic Of Wrath showed, political violence in the US is actually at a rather historical *low* point in this current era (thankfully), yes, even with the repeated attempted assassinations over the last couple of years of President Trump. Here, Jackson shows this quite well indeed, covering both Baltimore riots in 1812, Lincoln's assassination, the caning of Senator Charles Sumner in the leadup to the Civil War (which Robert W. Merry makes the central focus of his book Decade of Disunion), and more.
If you think voting irregularities - either "voter suppression" or "voter fraud" (both dog whistles to their respective sides that have been objectively shown to be minimal and not deterministic of outcomes in these last several years in particular) - are historically bad, Jackson shows you with several instances of mostly 19th century US history just how wrong you actually are, and how much worse things could actually be. (Though them getting as bad as they were in the age of the Internet as we currently know it - which could be changing if the US and other governments begin implementing planned age and identity verification restrictions - seems quite a long shot indeed, as Jackson shows here.)
If you think "fake news" is historically bad, again, Jackson uses the early days of corporate newspapers - where Wright's Empire Of Ink ends its own tale - to show you just how wrong you actually are, and again, how the open Internet actually helps make the truth more readily accessible to anyone who chooses to seek it out.
In the end, this is a book designed for exactly one purpose: to use largely forgotten and certainly rarely if ever taught even at the collegiate US History major levels American history to show that the times we are currently in are in fact not unprecedented. Yes, they are bad - Jackson takes pains to never actually minimize current struggles at all. But in showing how we have survived times that are *so much worse*, Jackson ultimately gives us all - even the most pessimistic among us - at least a modicum of hope that the naysayers and doomseekers are in fact completely wrong, both about our past and about our future. Combined with the wave of European tourism for the World Cup taking over social media and showing Americans just how good and awesome our nation actually is relative to the rest of the world today that is ongoing as this book finally reaches publication (in a great bit of fortuitous, to a degree, timing), this really is one of the better, more optimistic books to be reading particularly in its initial release days just ahead of the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Very much recommended.
Review of advance copy received from Author
I will start by noting I read an advanced copy I received on an event you wouldn't be part of if you weren't already fans of Greg Jackson's podcast and history work. So take that into account for any biases - I'm trying to be more transparent than our founders in chapter one of this book and media titans in chapter eight. Though really, that is a low bar to clear.
Jackson's goal here is to show that the troubles and anxieties we face as a society are not new to this country but in fact part of our fabric. To do that, he highlights stories from the first half of our country's existence (that is intentional to illustrate how "not new" these problems are) when America was at some of its lowest.
Regardless where folks land on his premise, and I'll touch on that soon, this books is good history that is written in an accessible manner. It's very thorough but in a way that Prof. Jackson doesn't let you get bogged down in the details. It's easy to read, which is not always the case with detailed history for sure, and often witty/funny when appropriate. (His sense of humor and witticisms is always going to be a YMMV thing, but it wasn't try hard and helped smooth out the read of history of bumpy times.) To a point, this is the type of history I enjoy reading - accessible, knowledgable, and sometimes obscure yet unbelievable. (In that sense, it somewhat reminds me of Candice Millard, a favorite of mine.)
Back to that premise that threads the separate stories. I'll note that Jackson never says "We'll be fine" or "It's not that bad." He makes sure to acknowledge that these are difficult times. Without getting too deep into his reasoning (as close to a spoiler a non-fiction could be), it's more scientific - or at least politically scientific. It's an explanation that our founders and framers understood that factionalism is a side effect of liberty and how they crafted the government to help mitigate that. That's not to mean we can sit back and relax. Greg explains the work that we need to do to ensure we earn the government we want. And as an FYI to what you're getting, these arguments are maybe 30% of the book - it's more history of our country than discussing now by far.
There are things this book doesn't cover that it probably could have such the influence of unchecked money in politics, but it certainly accomplishes what it sets out to explaining a historically sound message which is optimistic, if citizenry is willing to do the work. And even if you are left thinking that today is still a unicorn of a time, you're still left with thorough, well-written, entertaining history.
Jackson's goal here is to show that the troubles and anxieties we face as a society are not new to this country but in fact part of our fabric. To do that, he highlights stories from the first half of our country's existence (that is intentional to illustrate how "not new" these problems are) when America was at some of its lowest.
Regardless where folks land on his premise, and I'll touch on that soon, this books is good history that is written in an accessible manner. It's very thorough but in a way that Prof. Jackson doesn't let you get bogged down in the details. It's easy to read, which is not always the case with detailed history for sure, and often witty/funny when appropriate. (His sense of humor and witticisms is always going to be a YMMV thing, but it wasn't try hard and helped smooth out the read of history of bumpy times.) To a point, this is the type of history I enjoy reading - accessible, knowledgable, and sometimes obscure yet unbelievable. (In that sense, it somewhat reminds me of Candice Millard, a favorite of mine.)
Back to that premise that threads the separate stories. I'll note that Jackson never says "We'll be fine" or "It's not that bad." He makes sure to acknowledge that these are difficult times. Without getting too deep into his reasoning (as close to a spoiler a non-fiction could be), it's more scientific - or at least politically scientific. It's an explanation that our founders and framers understood that factionalism is a side effect of liberty and how they crafted the government to help mitigate that. That's not to mean we can sit back and relax. Greg explains the work that we need to do to ensure we earn the government we want. And as an FYI to what you're getting, these arguments are maybe 30% of the book - it's more history of our country than discussing now by far.
There are things this book doesn't cover that it probably could have such the influence of unchecked money in politics, but it certainly accomplishes what it sets out to explaining a historically sound message which is optimistic, if citizenry is willing to do the work. And even if you are left thinking that today is still a unicorn of a time, you're still left with thorough, well-written, entertaining history.
June 21, 2026
I am a huge fan of the History That Doesn’t Suck podcast, so when I heard Professor Greg Jackson had written a book, I knew I had to read it. Then I found out the audiobook was self-narrated, and I immediately grabbed the audio version instead. And oh boy, am I glad I did.
The book itself feels like one big episode of the podcast. Each chapter takes a comprehensive look at a defining moment in American history before tying it back to modern American politics. Covering topics such as the Baltimore riots of 1812, the caning of Senator Charles Sumner, the rise of yellow journalism, and the assassination of President Lincoln, Professor Jackson gives readers all of the important information without getting bogged down in the minutiae.
You could always argue that more detail could have been added, and while that’s true, I never felt like I was missing anything important. Jackson hits all of the essential points while keeping the material entertaining and accessible. He does an especially good job showing that issues like voter fraud claims, misinformation, and political division are not uniquely modern problems. They are recurring themes throughout American history.
I also appreciated how balanced the book felt. Rather than viewing history through a modern partisan lens, Jackson presents events in context and allows readers to draw their own conclusions. The book ultimately ends with a call to action, encouraging Americans to become involved in local politics and civic life. His argument is that if we want better government, we have to be willing to participate in it.
Honestly, I think this book should be required reading in history classes. I can only imagine how entertaining Professor Jackson’s college lectures must be. This was an informative, engaging, and genuinely enjoyable read, and I can’t wait to see what he writes next.
The book itself feels like one big episode of the podcast. Each chapter takes a comprehensive look at a defining moment in American history before tying it back to modern American politics. Covering topics such as the Baltimore riots of 1812, the caning of Senator Charles Sumner, the rise of yellow journalism, and the assassination of President Lincoln, Professor Jackson gives readers all of the important information without getting bogged down in the minutiae.
You could always argue that more detail could have been added, and while that’s true, I never felt like I was missing anything important. Jackson hits all of the essential points while keeping the material entertaining and accessible. He does an especially good job showing that issues like voter fraud claims, misinformation, and political division are not uniquely modern problems. They are recurring themes throughout American history.
I also appreciated how balanced the book felt. Rather than viewing history through a modern partisan lens, Jackson presents events in context and allows readers to draw their own conclusions. The book ultimately ends with a call to action, encouraging Americans to become involved in local politics and civic life. His argument is that if we want better government, we have to be willing to participate in it.
Honestly, I think this book should be required reading in history classes. I can only imagine how entertaining Professor Jackson’s college lectures must be. This was an informative, engaging, and genuinely enjoyable read, and I can’t wait to see what he writes next.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is an excellent book for those who are not students of American History. The author presents several events that are as traumatic or even more traumatic as we are currently experiencing. What it points out to me is that with the advent of the internet and social media is that it is much easier to create fake news geared to specific audiences that it has been in the past. As with the author, I am hopeful that we can overcome the current situation, although it will take years to achieve.
I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog.
I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog.
June 20, 2026
This review is coming from someone who has also been a fan of "History That Doesn't Suck," the podcast created by Professor Jackson, from the beginning. This book was a great journey of different examples from our past history that contradicts the present thought of "times have never been more divided!" or "Things have never been worse for our country!" From The 18th century through the 19th, with some more modern examples, this book helps us understand that the political divide we experience today, has manifested itself l, throughout the history of the Unoted States, from its inception. If you are a fan of the HTDS podcast, then you will most definitely be a fan of this book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 23, 2026
If you enjoy history, government, politics or just a good time. This is the book for you. It is exceptionally researched, as well as written.
As a political science instructor its easy to follow and nicely outlines examples of modern issues and correlating historical examples, in which makes for great thought, as well as bringing awareness of just how well (despite a lot of media an outrage over last decade or so) we actually have it, and that America is not at its lowest, but is still thriving.
As a political science instructor its easy to follow and nicely outlines examples of modern issues and correlating historical examples, in which makes for great thought, as well as bringing awareness of just how well (despite a lot of media an outrage over last decade or so) we actually have it, and that America is not at its lowest, but is still thriving.
June 20, 2026
Professor Gregory Jackson does a masterful job of using 8 different episodes in 19th century history (which doesn’t include the American Civil War) to illustrate how Americans were able to overcome these challenges. It provides some important perspective on our current political environment. Enough leaders and common people, we hope, still believe in the American ideal of liberal democracy to keep it going for another 250 years.
Want to Read
July 2, 2026As seen in the July/August People’s Book newsletter.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews