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Four Threats
"An important work of scholarship that should be read by anyone concerned with America’s future." --Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World
An urgent, historically-grounded take on the four major factors that undermine American democracy, and what we can do to address them.
While many Americans despair of the current state of U.S. politics, most assume that our system of government and democracy itself are invulnerable to decay. Yet when we examine the past, we find that the United States has undergone repeated crises of democracy, from the earliest days of the republic to the present.
In Four Threats , Suzanne Mettler and Robert C. Lieberman explore five moments in history when democracy in the U.S. was under the 1790s, the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Depression, and Watergate. These episodes risked profound―even fatal―damage to the American democratic experiment. From this history, four distinct characteristics of disruption emerge. Political polarization, racism and nativism, economic inequality, and excessive executive power―alone or in combination―have threatened the survival of the republic, but it has survived―so far. What is unique, and alarming, about the present moment in American politics is that all four conditions exist.
This convergence marks the contemporary era as a grave moment for democracy. But history provides a valuable repository from which we can draw lessons about how democracy was eventually strengthened―or weakened―in the past. By revisiting how earlier generations of Americans faced threats to the principles enshrined in the Constitution, we can see the promise and the peril that have led us to today and chart a path toward repairing our civic fabric and renewing democracy.
An urgent, historically-grounded take on the four major factors that undermine American democracy, and what we can do to address them.
While many Americans despair of the current state of U.S. politics, most assume that our system of government and democracy itself are invulnerable to decay. Yet when we examine the past, we find that the United States has undergone repeated crises of democracy, from the earliest days of the republic to the present.
In Four Threats , Suzanne Mettler and Robert C. Lieberman explore five moments in history when democracy in the U.S. was under the 1790s, the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Depression, and Watergate. These episodes risked profound―even fatal―damage to the American democratic experiment. From this history, four distinct characteristics of disruption emerge. Political polarization, racism and nativism, economic inequality, and excessive executive power―alone or in combination―have threatened the survival of the republic, but it has survived―so far. What is unique, and alarming, about the present moment in American politics is that all four conditions exist.
This convergence marks the contemporary era as a grave moment for democracy. But history provides a valuable repository from which we can draw lessons about how democracy was eventually strengthened―or weakened―in the past. By revisiting how earlier generations of Americans faced threats to the principles enshrined in the Constitution, we can see the promise and the peril that have led us to today and chart a path toward repairing our civic fabric and renewing democracy.
304 pages, Paperback
First published August 11, 2020
125 people are currently reading
897 people want to read
About the author
Suzanne Mettler
15 books33 followersSuzanne Mettler is the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions in the Government Department at Cornell University. She is the author of several books, including The Government-Citizen Disconnect; Degrees of Inequality: How The Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream; and The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Programs Undermine American Democracy. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship, and several book awards. In 2017, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
August 23, 2020
The authors contend that in the course of US history four overarching threats (polarization, conflict over belonging, rising income inequality, and executive aggrandizement) have not been realized at the same time until the present, although they have been experienced in clusters less than four in the past. The thesis is just OK and the look back through history feels no more than touching the surface, thus overall the book never feels overly insightful or pertinent.
June 14, 2022
This is one of two current books that do a fine job of placing today’s troubling situation for the United States in the context of history. (The other is Putnam’s “The Upswing.”)
This is very important, for it helps illustrate the point that the image many of us have had of US politics — that was an ideal period in the recent past when everything functioned smoothly and major policies enjoyed considerable consensus — was never a very accurate picture of our actual history. The truth is that from the nation’s very birth as an independent republic various factions among our people have fought hard — even bitterly — to gain the upper hand, often employing tactics we tend to associate more with authoritarian countries.
“This book,” the authors explain, “delves into our history in order to try to understand whether democracy today is in danger or not. We turn to several periods in which many Americans were worried about whether rule by ‘we the people’ could endure. We investigate them to uncover the elements that presaged each crisis, how our institutions withstood serious threats, and what ensued. What we have learned is that American democracy has been far from invincible. To the contrary, it has been under threat time and again, and has often prove to be fragile in the face of danger. In many instances, moreover, real harm occurred, sometimes with lasting consequences.”
The periods they delve into in some depth, providing an admirable concise and memorable rendering of each, are:
1) The 1790s when political conflict resulting from the evolution of de facto parties — one comprised of followers of Jefferson and the other of followers of the Federalists — and the vastly different feelings and fears occasioned by the outbreak of the French Revolution.
2) The 1850s when factionalism solidified and led to the Civil War.
3) The1890s when the conservative powers of the very unequal Gilded Age collided bloodily with rural and urban workers struggling for their economic livelihood.
4) The 1930s when FDR and the New Deal wrestled with the consequences of the Great Depression and severe economic inequality.
“These crises of democracy did not occur randomly,” Mettler and Lieberman observe. Rather, “they developed in the presence of four specific threats: political polarization, conflict over who belongs in the political community, high and growing economic inequality, and excessive executive power. We know from the study of the rise and fall of democratic regimes elsewhere in the world that these conditions are harmful to the sustainability of democracy. When they are absent, democracy tends to flourish; when one or more of them are present, democracy is prone to decay.”
Polarization, they write, divides citizens into opposing “teams” which focus above all on winning and vanquishing those they increasingly identify as “the enemy.” Such divisions obliterate the larger common good and the needs of the larger community on which they often largely agree.
Disputes over who belongs engenders deep divisions among citizens and leads to the exclusion of some from membership in the “worthy community,” often leading to the loss of certain civil and even legal rights.
Economic inequality not only expresses itself in the wide and usually increasing gap between the very well to do and the rest of the citizens, but it also causes the wealthy elite to employ their money power into buying legal and political protection sufficient for them to maintain their dominant status. It can also lead to a competitive and injurious scrabble among the majority of citizens for the relative scarcity of resources remaining available to them.
Most disturbing of all is their conclusion that for the very first time in our nation’s history we are currently facing all four threats concurrently! Such “have grown deeply entrenched, and they will likely persist and wreak havoc for some time to come.” They warn that “we make light of them at our peril.”
Before they turn to an in-depth review of each of the periods mentioned above, they talk about those elements that signify a healthy democracy which they call “four key attributes.”
These are:
1) Free and fair elections, meaning no voter suppression, no gerrymandered districts, no impediments to voting, and sufficient resources available for all citizens to exercise their franchise.
2) The rule of law, meaning that no one is above the law, and that the instruments of government are not used to tip the scale in favor of one party or person over another, and that all are held to the same high standards. Both this and the preceding attribute are essential to protecting those institutions central to a functioning democracy republic.
3) The legitimacy of the opposition, meaning that those with whom you disagree are acknowledged to have the same rights and civic virtues as yourself, that should they prevail in election contests or in legislative voting their accomplishment must be accepted as valid, and that they are recognized as opponents and not enemies.
4) The integrity of rights, meaning that our precious civil liberties such as the freedom of the press, of speech, of religion, and of speech, as well as the civil rights won by various minorities, must be acknowledged and defended.
Any infringement of these key forms indicates a grave and immediate danger to democracy, and each are particularly susceptible to being weakened when the United States is faced with one of more of the four basic threats to democracy, as we can see today when the president of the United States has repeatedly sought to undermine confidence in, and the smooth functioning of, our electoral processes, while clearly expecting “his” justice and law enforcement officials to hold him and his interests above the law, always demeaning his opponents as unworthy (or worse), and constantly denouncing the free press as “fake news.”
Each of the four grave threats to democracy, they write, “interferes with the normal functioning of democratic politics. A goal takes over that proponents value deeply, more than democracy itself, and in pursuing it — at all costs — they become willing to take measures that endanger democracy….The threats…create incentives to use power in ways that harm democracy. When the threats merge in various combinations, furthermore, not only is the level of danger compounded, but their interactions with one another make them more combustible, ratcheting up the likelihood of causing harm to democracy.”
I wish that many Americans would read this book and heed its important warnings, for the “save our democracy warning light” is flashing. Unfortunately, however, it is a likely that only a few of the already concerned will do so, while millions of others — those pleased with how “things are going” could, frankly, not care less.
This is very important, for it helps illustrate the point that the image many of us have had of US politics — that was an ideal period in the recent past when everything functioned smoothly and major policies enjoyed considerable consensus — was never a very accurate picture of our actual history. The truth is that from the nation’s very birth as an independent republic various factions among our people have fought hard — even bitterly — to gain the upper hand, often employing tactics we tend to associate more with authoritarian countries.
“This book,” the authors explain, “delves into our history in order to try to understand whether democracy today is in danger or not. We turn to several periods in which many Americans were worried about whether rule by ‘we the people’ could endure. We investigate them to uncover the elements that presaged each crisis, how our institutions withstood serious threats, and what ensued. What we have learned is that American democracy has been far from invincible. To the contrary, it has been under threat time and again, and has often prove to be fragile in the face of danger. In many instances, moreover, real harm occurred, sometimes with lasting consequences.”
The periods they delve into in some depth, providing an admirable concise and memorable rendering of each, are:
1) The 1790s when political conflict resulting from the evolution of de facto parties — one comprised of followers of Jefferson and the other of followers of the Federalists — and the vastly different feelings and fears occasioned by the outbreak of the French Revolution.
2) The 1850s when factionalism solidified and led to the Civil War.
3) The1890s when the conservative powers of the very unequal Gilded Age collided bloodily with rural and urban workers struggling for their economic livelihood.
4) The 1930s when FDR and the New Deal wrestled with the consequences of the Great Depression and severe economic inequality.
“These crises of democracy did not occur randomly,” Mettler and Lieberman observe. Rather, “they developed in the presence of four specific threats: political polarization, conflict over who belongs in the political community, high and growing economic inequality, and excessive executive power. We know from the study of the rise and fall of democratic regimes elsewhere in the world that these conditions are harmful to the sustainability of democracy. When they are absent, democracy tends to flourish; when one or more of them are present, democracy is prone to decay.”
Polarization, they write, divides citizens into opposing “teams” which focus above all on winning and vanquishing those they increasingly identify as “the enemy.” Such divisions obliterate the larger common good and the needs of the larger community on which they often largely agree.
Disputes over who belongs engenders deep divisions among citizens and leads to the exclusion of some from membership in the “worthy community,” often leading to the loss of certain civil and even legal rights.
Economic inequality not only expresses itself in the wide and usually increasing gap between the very well to do and the rest of the citizens, but it also causes the wealthy elite to employ their money power into buying legal and political protection sufficient for them to maintain their dominant status. It can also lead to a competitive and injurious scrabble among the majority of citizens for the relative scarcity of resources remaining available to them.
Most disturbing of all is their conclusion that for the very first time in our nation’s history we are currently facing all four threats concurrently! Such “have grown deeply entrenched, and they will likely persist and wreak havoc for some time to come.” They warn that “we make light of them at our peril.”
Before they turn to an in-depth review of each of the periods mentioned above, they talk about those elements that signify a healthy democracy which they call “four key attributes.”
These are:
1) Free and fair elections, meaning no voter suppression, no gerrymandered districts, no impediments to voting, and sufficient resources available for all citizens to exercise their franchise.
2) The rule of law, meaning that no one is above the law, and that the instruments of government are not used to tip the scale in favor of one party or person over another, and that all are held to the same high standards. Both this and the preceding attribute are essential to protecting those institutions central to a functioning democracy republic.
3) The legitimacy of the opposition, meaning that those with whom you disagree are acknowledged to have the same rights and civic virtues as yourself, that should they prevail in election contests or in legislative voting their accomplishment must be accepted as valid, and that they are recognized as opponents and not enemies.
4) The integrity of rights, meaning that our precious civil liberties such as the freedom of the press, of speech, of religion, and of speech, as well as the civil rights won by various minorities, must be acknowledged and defended.
Any infringement of these key forms indicates a grave and immediate danger to democracy, and each are particularly susceptible to being weakened when the United States is faced with one of more of the four basic threats to democracy, as we can see today when the president of the United States has repeatedly sought to undermine confidence in, and the smooth functioning of, our electoral processes, while clearly expecting “his” justice and law enforcement officials to hold him and his interests above the law, always demeaning his opponents as unworthy (or worse), and constantly denouncing the free press as “fake news.”
Each of the four grave threats to democracy, they write, “interferes with the normal functioning of democratic politics. A goal takes over that proponents value deeply, more than democracy itself, and in pursuing it — at all costs — they become willing to take measures that endanger democracy….The threats…create incentives to use power in ways that harm democracy. When the threats merge in various combinations, furthermore, not only is the level of danger compounded, but their interactions with one another make them more combustible, ratcheting up the likelihood of causing harm to democracy.”
I wish that many Americans would read this book and heed its important warnings, for the “save our democracy warning light” is flashing. Unfortunately, however, it is a likely that only a few of the already concerned will do so, while millions of others — those pleased with how “things are going” could, frankly, not care less.
September 15, 2020
Overall a good book, but one of the authors has a real hobby horse on executive power and does a very poor job on the topic. Lurking behind every law delegating regulatory power to the executive branch is a threat to democracy. I'm sorry, but it's insane to compare the Obama Administration's development of the Clean Power Plan, a legitimate use of the Clean Air Act, to the behaviors of the Trump Administration. The fourth threat needed more attention to distinguish an actual threat from legitimate democracy.
August 11, 2020
I felt very lucky to receive an advance copy of the book I heard about on NPR earlier this summer, “Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy”, by Suzanne Mettler and Robert Lieberman. It released today in hardcover.
This book takes a long look at the history of the United States and its relationship to the ideals of democracy, focusing on five crisis periods the 1790s, the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Depression, and Watergate. What the authors posit is that each of these historical crises included at least one of the “four threats”: increased political polarization/a perceived lack of legitimacy of the opposition, racism/nativism, economic inequality, and excessive executive power. They go on to state that THIS period of history, right now, is the only time that all four of those threats have existed at once.
This book, while not a light summer beach read, it is also very compelling. The authors implore Americans to consider that we “cannot take it for granted that democratic politics will endure if we do not pay careful attention to the democracy-enhancing (or democracy-eroding) consequences of the things we do in politics.” The book rejects the idea that democracy can function as an “all-out high stakes battle” meant to “eliminate and vanquish foes” and urges all of us to pay continuous attention to the threats to democracy that we face in our nation at this time.
Good stuff. Scary stuff.
#netgalley #thefourthreats
This book takes a long look at the history of the United States and its relationship to the ideals of democracy, focusing on five crisis periods the 1790s, the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Depression, and Watergate. What the authors posit is that each of these historical crises included at least one of the “four threats”: increased political polarization/a perceived lack of legitimacy of the opposition, racism/nativism, economic inequality, and excessive executive power. They go on to state that THIS period of history, right now, is the only time that all four of those threats have existed at once.
This book, while not a light summer beach read, it is also very compelling. The authors implore Americans to consider that we “cannot take it for granted that democratic politics will endure if we do not pay careful attention to the democracy-enhancing (or democracy-eroding) consequences of the things we do in politics.” The book rejects the idea that democracy can function as an “all-out high stakes battle” meant to “eliminate and vanquish foes” and urges all of us to pay continuous attention to the threats to democracy that we face in our nation at this time.
Good stuff. Scary stuff.
#netgalley #thefourthreats
September 11, 2020
This is an engagingly written look at challenges to American democracy since the country’s founding, and how the threats to our democracy are currently greater than at any other point in history. The chapters describing 5 historical periods are especially interesting. I was surprised by how much history I learned. The authors make an excellent case for the danger our democracy is in right now. I only wish that they had been able to provide more advice and guidance about what we can all do to safeguard our country. Mettler and Lieberman do try to do this in the book’s final few pages, but one is left with the feeling that they too aren’t entirely sure what the solution is.
January 12, 2021
The Trump Administration is almost into its last week as I write this review, and it's fair to say that his Administration is even more controversial as he heads out the door than the day he barged through it.
I've read a number of books about the Trump Presidency, some of them great, some good, some meh. Most of them have been "hot take" assessments such as Bob Woodward's "Fear" and "Rage," Michael Wolf's "Fire and Fury," Vicky Ward's "Kushner, Inc." and so on. "Four Threats" is co-written by Suzanne Mettler and Robert Lieberman and may be the most academic, measured take on the Trump Presidency to date. This is not surprising, as Mettler and Lieberman are both distinguished professors (Cornell and Johns Hopkins, respectively). The book is, unfortunately, written in the dry, musty tone of academics.
That does not mean that it's not a valuable contribution - and indeed, in the early days of 2021, we could use more reasoned, thoughtful assessments of what Trumpism means to America.
Also, Trump really does not arrive in the book until the final chapters. In the first several chapters, Mettler and Lieberman describe their four perceived threats to American Democracy: Political polarization, executive aggrandizement of power, economic inequality, and citizenship/political discrimination against minorities. The authors describe each of these risks in considerable detail, including the consequences of FDR's building of greater executive power to fight the Great Depression and win WWII as well as Nixon's executive power-grab; America's treatment of Black Americans from slavery through Jim Crow; the economic inequality of the Gilded Age, and so on.
Many of these events have been well-analyzed in other books, of course, but what is refreshing is the constant focus on how these aspects of American life have undermined our democracy. The Three-Fifths Compromise did more than embody slavery in our Constitution, it also sealed in Virginia's political dominance of early America thanks to adding to the Commonwealth's population. But this was anti-democratic because, as was noted at the time, Virginia got more political power in a democracy by kidnapping Africans and relocating them to Virginia plantations. After slavery, the political disenfranchisement of Black Americans continued through Jim Crow as the South was able to count Black Americans as citizens for purposes of allocating representation but then denied them the vote through measures such as poll taxes and discretionary literacy tests that a Black graduate of an Ivy League law school could not pass.
The authors carefully trace these sins to their political consequences. FDR has been slammed by many today for his failures to extend the New Deal benefits to Black Americans. FDR's legacy survives such criticism, but critics need to recognize, as the authors do, that during FDR's Presidency the Southern Democrats had a number of senior members dominating Congress and they refused to enact New Deal legislation unless the New Deal benefitted White Americans more than others.
After building their case for the Four Threats, the authors then turn to assessing the Trump Presidency and how his Administration built on and fueled these threats. He exacerbated income inequality with pro-plutocrat tax policy. He pursued politics of division and disenfranchisement. He fostered political polarization as never seen before by a President in office - even more blatantly than Nixon. And he wielded executive power like a blunderbuss, with scattershot policies adopted seemingly at whim. Through it all he was abetted by Republicans in Congress who kowtowed before his celebrity.
I really wanted to love "Four Threats," but while the dry, refreshing writing was initially a tonic, it eventually grew dull. And I like dry - "The Color of Law," by Richard Rothstein, is a measured assessment of America's racist housing policy, but Rothstein still brings more life to his pages than can be found here.
Still, the substance of this book is terrific, and overall the book is highly recommended.
I've read a number of books about the Trump Presidency, some of them great, some good, some meh. Most of them have been "hot take" assessments such as Bob Woodward's "Fear" and "Rage," Michael Wolf's "Fire and Fury," Vicky Ward's "Kushner, Inc." and so on. "Four Threats" is co-written by Suzanne Mettler and Robert Lieberman and may be the most academic, measured take on the Trump Presidency to date. This is not surprising, as Mettler and Lieberman are both distinguished professors (Cornell and Johns Hopkins, respectively). The book is, unfortunately, written in the dry, musty tone of academics.
That does not mean that it's not a valuable contribution - and indeed, in the early days of 2021, we could use more reasoned, thoughtful assessments of what Trumpism means to America.
Also, Trump really does not arrive in the book until the final chapters. In the first several chapters, Mettler and Lieberman describe their four perceived threats to American Democracy: Political polarization, executive aggrandizement of power, economic inequality, and citizenship/political discrimination against minorities. The authors describe each of these risks in considerable detail, including the consequences of FDR's building of greater executive power to fight the Great Depression and win WWII as well as Nixon's executive power-grab; America's treatment of Black Americans from slavery through Jim Crow; the economic inequality of the Gilded Age, and so on.
Many of these events have been well-analyzed in other books, of course, but what is refreshing is the constant focus on how these aspects of American life have undermined our democracy. The Three-Fifths Compromise did more than embody slavery in our Constitution, it also sealed in Virginia's political dominance of early America thanks to adding to the Commonwealth's population. But this was anti-democratic because, as was noted at the time, Virginia got more political power in a democracy by kidnapping Africans and relocating them to Virginia plantations. After slavery, the political disenfranchisement of Black Americans continued through Jim Crow as the South was able to count Black Americans as citizens for purposes of allocating representation but then denied them the vote through measures such as poll taxes and discretionary literacy tests that a Black graduate of an Ivy League law school could not pass.
The authors carefully trace these sins to their political consequences. FDR has been slammed by many today for his failures to extend the New Deal benefits to Black Americans. FDR's legacy survives such criticism, but critics need to recognize, as the authors do, that during FDR's Presidency the Southern Democrats had a number of senior members dominating Congress and they refused to enact New Deal legislation unless the New Deal benefitted White Americans more than others.
After building their case for the Four Threats, the authors then turn to assessing the Trump Presidency and how his Administration built on and fueled these threats. He exacerbated income inequality with pro-plutocrat tax policy. He pursued politics of division and disenfranchisement. He fostered political polarization as never seen before by a President in office - even more blatantly than Nixon. And he wielded executive power like a blunderbuss, with scattershot policies adopted seemingly at whim. Through it all he was abetted by Republicans in Congress who kowtowed before his celebrity.
I really wanted to love "Four Threats," but while the dry, refreshing writing was initially a tonic, it eventually grew dull. And I like dry - "The Color of Law," by Richard Rothstein, is a measured assessment of America's racist housing policy, but Rothstein still brings more life to his pages than can be found here.
Still, the substance of this book is terrific, and overall the book is highly recommended.
September 30, 2024
Curious book that started out as Four Threats
and in the end it ends with Nixon, or uh perhaps Trump, and goes from history to screed
Just, mere coincidence, it came out 90 days before the 2020 election
[and they slip in subliminal messages about eliminating the electoral college]
[and turn on the mind-rays]
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You know the book has a strange political message if Bill Kristol, King of the Neoconservatives talk about it
A rich and textured account of American history through which to understand where we are today. When you finish this book, you'll be neither complacent nor despairing. But you'll be more ready to act intelligently to deal with the challenges we face.
William Kristol
better is Zaharia, but I've wondered if the critics are right and he's more of a poseur, than a mix of Huntington meets Bill Moyers...
This is an important work of scholarship that should be read by anyone concerned with America’s future. Deeply grounded in five pivotal moments in history, the authors make a compelling case that we are now living through the most consequential of these tests of American democracy. Forces that have existed throughout American history, and have waxed and waned over the years, have all come together to present the United States with an existential challenge. How we come out of this will shape the country’s character for decades to come.
Fareed Zakaria
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the wild Amazone
Interesting and compelling anecdotes in American history
Political Polarization, Conflict Over Who Belongs in the Political Community and the Status afforded those in certain groups, Rising Economic Inequality, and Executive Aggrandizement with Rising Exercise of Executive Power.
The authors hypothesize that these are the principal threats to democracy and detail several examples through American history to support their points.
The first seven chapters were interesting and compelling as they build support for their hypothesis. They could have included more, and they could have given counter examples....
The informed reader of American history can fill the rest in themselves, and the informed reader can apply this material and integrate it with his/her knowledge and opinions about this latest presidency and current election cycle.
As such the book would have been better and perhaps 5 stars if the last two chapters had just been omitted.
There is nothing in the last two chapters that we haven’t heard in the media, and regardless of one’s personal views, for or against, these chapters do not affirm or detract from the central hypothesis of this book.
I think this book is good reading for conservatives, liberals, and centrists, and the ideas are worth thinking about.
Given the polarization in the current state of affairs, the last two chapters are likely to alienate a certain portion of readers and thereby weaken or lose the authors message.
If the hypothesis is left bare, without these chapters, people from all aspects of the political spectrum would be left to think about it and draw their own conclusions and the message would have been more powerful. This is why I deducted 2 stars.
So I think this is a worthwhile read.
Even for readers who may not agree with everything the authors state, there are good ideas, thoughts, and warnings here, and it should be considered with an honest and open mind.
gsxr
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If you think trump a total zealot and want removal of the electoral college this is your book at the end.
JSHouse
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Interesting Perspectives on US History
In the first chapter, the authors discuss an America on the brink of political disaster, severely divided, with a bitterly contested Presidential election decided by Congress. urprise, the year is not 2020, but 1800!
The authors focus on several critical periods in US history, including the Presidential election of 1800, Reconstruction, the Great Depression, and the Nixon era.
The authors focus on what they see as the most severe threats to survival of US democracy: extreme political polarization, racism and denial of fundamental rights (such as voting) to some groups, significant economic inequality, and growth of Executive power (in the US President & Executive Branch).
Unfortunately for us now living, all four of these problems have emerged once again with a vengeance, exploited by Trump and the Republicans.
The authors call upon us to learn lessons from the past to preserve and strengthen US democracy.
However, the main lesson I learned is that effective leadership offers the best hope.
In the past, Jefferson, Lincoln, and FDR guided the US through difficult and dangerous times. Today, we have Donald Trump. Mike Pence, and Mitch McConnell until the upcoming election.
RTM
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A partisan polemic by university historians
The stated thesis of this book is that US democracy is periodically threatened by threats to democracy from within, that four factors are common to these threats, and these four factors are threatening democracy again today.
The four factors appear to be- the authors are a bit unclear- political polarization, racism, economic inequality, and “executive aggrandizement,” which is another way of saying attempts by the president to assert more power.
In support of their thesis they offer a selective sample of what they consider to be periods in which democracy was threatened, emphasizing some while ignoring a great many. They begin with the 1790s, asserting that polarization wreaked havoc with democracy.
This is very much an arguable point; what they call polarization can be viewed as lively debate, like the debate between the Federalists and the anti-Federalists that resulted in the Bill of Rights- certainly a positive outcome.
They argue instead for a two-party system in which most voters have no particular feelings one way or another.
From there, it’s on to the Civil War, the fight over slavery, and and Reconstruction, and this section takes up most of the book. Most of this isn’t directly in support of the authors’ thesis and reads like a rehash of a great many history texts of the era.
They do neglect to note that the Civil War was a fight by the central government against rebellion and against slavery, not a usurpation of rights by the central government.
From there, the authors jump ahead to the Depression and the era of Theodore Roosevelt- the two being synonymous, for all practical purposes- completely skipping over one of the Progressive Era and WWI, when the government shut down newspapers and imprisoned editors and writers for the crime of criticizing government policy.
A curious omission. FDR himself is given some criticism for his attempt to stuff the Supreme Court and turn it in to a rubber stamp for his policies, although this assault on democracy receives only a paragraph. Roosevelt’s imprisonment of 120,000 Japanese-American citizens, which is inarguably the greatest unconstitutional assertion of executive power by a president in US history, as well as the most racist act by a president in the twentieth century, gets two short paragraphs and an apology from the authors, who quote Secretary of War McCloy in its defense: “If it is a question of safety of the country, or the Constitution of the United States, why the Constitution is just a scrap of paper to me.”
From FDR the narrative jumps ahead thirty years, overlooking JFK’s use of the FBI to spy on opponents and private citizens (including Martin Luther King), his attempt to overthrow the governments of Cuba, and his undeclared war against Vietnam, to name just a few.
Also ignored in LBJ’s use of the CIA against Republican opponents (he placed spies in Barry Goldwater’s organization who supplied him with speeches and position papers), his secret war in Cambodia and Laos, etc. The real threat to democracy, as the authors see it, was not undeclared wars that killed tens of thousands, or the use of the FBI and CIA as political tools, but Watergate.
Post-Nixon, the narrative skips ahead over forty years, overlooking the Clinton era and focusing on Donald Trump, and in their case against Trump the authors trot out a number of discredited (but often repeated) charges such as the “fine people” speech in which he actually condemned white supremacists (Actual quote: “[A]nd I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally—but you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, okay?”) and the Russian collaboration claims, which we’ve since learned, in testimony from former FBI director Comey, were based on a dossier sourced from a Russian agent. You needn’t be a fan of Trump, or even tolerate him, to see that this is not an unbiased account of history.
In short, what we have here is an election year political polemic posing as scholarly research- hardly a surprise, given the politicization of university liberal arts faculties and the decline in free speech and open debate in universities in the past fifty years.
Michael J
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and in the end it ends with Nixon, or uh perhaps Trump, and goes from history to screed
Just, mere coincidence, it came out 90 days before the 2020 election
[and they slip in subliminal messages about eliminating the electoral college]
[and turn on the mind-rays]
//////////
You know the book has a strange political message if Bill Kristol, King of the Neoconservatives talk about it
A rich and textured account of American history through which to understand where we are today. When you finish this book, you'll be neither complacent nor despairing. But you'll be more ready to act intelligently to deal with the challenges we face.
William Kristol
better is Zaharia, but I've wondered if the critics are right and he's more of a poseur, than a mix of Huntington meets Bill Moyers...
This is an important work of scholarship that should be read by anyone concerned with America’s future. Deeply grounded in five pivotal moments in history, the authors make a compelling case that we are now living through the most consequential of these tests of American democracy. Forces that have existed throughout American history, and have waxed and waned over the years, have all come together to present the United States with an existential challenge. How we come out of this will shape the country’s character for decades to come.
Fareed Zakaria
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the wild Amazone
Interesting and compelling anecdotes in American history
Political Polarization, Conflict Over Who Belongs in the Political Community and the Status afforded those in certain groups, Rising Economic Inequality, and Executive Aggrandizement with Rising Exercise of Executive Power.
The authors hypothesize that these are the principal threats to democracy and detail several examples through American history to support their points.
The first seven chapters were interesting and compelling as they build support for their hypothesis. They could have included more, and they could have given counter examples....
The informed reader of American history can fill the rest in themselves, and the informed reader can apply this material and integrate it with his/her knowledge and opinions about this latest presidency and current election cycle.
As such the book would have been better and perhaps 5 stars if the last two chapters had just been omitted.
There is nothing in the last two chapters that we haven’t heard in the media, and regardless of one’s personal views, for or against, these chapters do not affirm or detract from the central hypothesis of this book.
I think this book is good reading for conservatives, liberals, and centrists, and the ideas are worth thinking about.
Given the polarization in the current state of affairs, the last two chapters are likely to alienate a certain portion of readers and thereby weaken or lose the authors message.
If the hypothesis is left bare, without these chapters, people from all aspects of the political spectrum would be left to think about it and draw their own conclusions and the message would have been more powerful. This is why I deducted 2 stars.
So I think this is a worthwhile read.
Even for readers who may not agree with everything the authors state, there are good ideas, thoughts, and warnings here, and it should be considered with an honest and open mind.
gsxr
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If you think trump a total zealot and want removal of the electoral college this is your book at the end.
JSHouse
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Interesting Perspectives on US History
In the first chapter, the authors discuss an America on the brink of political disaster, severely divided, with a bitterly contested Presidential election decided by Congress. urprise, the year is not 2020, but 1800!
The authors focus on several critical periods in US history, including the Presidential election of 1800, Reconstruction, the Great Depression, and the Nixon era.
The authors focus on what they see as the most severe threats to survival of US democracy: extreme political polarization, racism and denial of fundamental rights (such as voting) to some groups, significant economic inequality, and growth of Executive power (in the US President & Executive Branch).
Unfortunately for us now living, all four of these problems have emerged once again with a vengeance, exploited by Trump and the Republicans.
The authors call upon us to learn lessons from the past to preserve and strengthen US democracy.
However, the main lesson I learned is that effective leadership offers the best hope.
In the past, Jefferson, Lincoln, and FDR guided the US through difficult and dangerous times. Today, we have Donald Trump. Mike Pence, and Mitch McConnell until the upcoming election.
RTM
//////
A partisan polemic by university historians
The stated thesis of this book is that US democracy is periodically threatened by threats to democracy from within, that four factors are common to these threats, and these four factors are threatening democracy again today.
The four factors appear to be- the authors are a bit unclear- political polarization, racism, economic inequality, and “executive aggrandizement,” which is another way of saying attempts by the president to assert more power.
In support of their thesis they offer a selective sample of what they consider to be periods in which democracy was threatened, emphasizing some while ignoring a great many. They begin with the 1790s, asserting that polarization wreaked havoc with democracy.
This is very much an arguable point; what they call polarization can be viewed as lively debate, like the debate between the Federalists and the anti-Federalists that resulted in the Bill of Rights- certainly a positive outcome.
They argue instead for a two-party system in which most voters have no particular feelings one way or another.
From there, it’s on to the Civil War, the fight over slavery, and and Reconstruction, and this section takes up most of the book. Most of this isn’t directly in support of the authors’ thesis and reads like a rehash of a great many history texts of the era.
They do neglect to note that the Civil War was a fight by the central government against rebellion and against slavery, not a usurpation of rights by the central government.
From there, the authors jump ahead to the Depression and the era of Theodore Roosevelt- the two being synonymous, for all practical purposes- completely skipping over one of the Progressive Era and WWI, when the government shut down newspapers and imprisoned editors and writers for the crime of criticizing government policy.
A curious omission. FDR himself is given some criticism for his attempt to stuff the Supreme Court and turn it in to a rubber stamp for his policies, although this assault on democracy receives only a paragraph. Roosevelt’s imprisonment of 120,000 Japanese-American citizens, which is inarguably the greatest unconstitutional assertion of executive power by a president in US history, as well as the most racist act by a president in the twentieth century, gets two short paragraphs and an apology from the authors, who quote Secretary of War McCloy in its defense: “If it is a question of safety of the country, or the Constitution of the United States, why the Constitution is just a scrap of paper to me.”
From FDR the narrative jumps ahead thirty years, overlooking JFK’s use of the FBI to spy on opponents and private citizens (including Martin Luther King), his attempt to overthrow the governments of Cuba, and his undeclared war against Vietnam, to name just a few.
Also ignored in LBJ’s use of the CIA against Republican opponents (he placed spies in Barry Goldwater’s organization who supplied him with speeches and position papers), his secret war in Cambodia and Laos, etc. The real threat to democracy, as the authors see it, was not undeclared wars that killed tens of thousands, or the use of the FBI and CIA as political tools, but Watergate.
Post-Nixon, the narrative skips ahead over forty years, overlooking the Clinton era and focusing on Donald Trump, and in their case against Trump the authors trot out a number of discredited (but often repeated) charges such as the “fine people” speech in which he actually condemned white supremacists (Actual quote: “[A]nd I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally—but you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, okay?”) and the Russian collaboration claims, which we’ve since learned, in testimony from former FBI director Comey, were based on a dossier sourced from a Russian agent. You needn’t be a fan of Trump, or even tolerate him, to see that this is not an unbiased account of history.
In short, what we have here is an election year political polemic posing as scholarly research- hardly a surprise, given the politicization of university liberal arts faculties and the decline in free speech and open debate in universities in the past fifty years.
Michael J
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September 17, 2020
This book is so contradicting and hypocritical.
Right at the introduction of the book.... the first paragraph contradicts the following paragraph, “When the president used his power... shocked many citizens.”
This is the following paragraph, “Tensions among the nation’s political leaders had been escalating... Fights and mob violence followed.”
The author is not making any sense. Any logical sense. Isn't being logically clear. Isn't fact checking. Isn't assuring the author's work is logically flowing. Isn't providing assurance in the belief that the author is coherent with the topics in which is being written on their behalf.
This book, is a contribution to the title, "Four Threats: The Recurring Crisis of American Democracy."
This book presented the realities of the society's formal system of orders and operations in the current society's dire crisis. It is completely obvious... that is if the reader really takes the time to make sense to what is being presented in text, and ensuring that the logical presentation of the book's work builds on the topic to develop more clarity, rather than what I believe the book was presenting the context in, "Contradictory an hypocritical political stances, with great hateful bigotry."
Basically. Actually read and understand what you are reading. Rather than just reading the book's text to get through the book, so that the "self sense of accomplishment is achieved." The achievement of, "OH..... I read that book. It was good. Or. It wasn't that great."
This quote is an example of one of the threats, "delusional and self - entitled ness." But most importantly, "fabrication of entitled status. Acting and saying that you are more than what you are." This "comment's concept" was very much made clear in this book.
I read the book in its entirety. Fortunately, the book wasn't difficult to get through. For the book wasn't as dense and lengthy. But aside from the "read - time", I couldn't grasp what the political objective of this book was providing in foresight of what the future was entailing in system development and progression. This statement alone, is the reason why I read current political science novels. Which to social college degree acquires, that hopefully is given. More than likely.
The news doesn't really provide clarity, which is why I decided to read this book. Along with other Political Science Novels. What scared me was that the news broadcasting informatics of unclarity, now reflects in current book's context and content. I have no clue what my future entails now.
This should be the concern. Not the negative bigotry and hate for the president, the government, and the political system. That negative social influence (hate and bigotry) is just going to make the reality we are living in, worse.
So I suggest, rather than fueling the factor that is basically killing us. Re-evaluate your social conformity, for that the ideology of the current such Society way of life, is not working in humanity's benefits. More so working against humanity's means to survive.
Right at the introduction of the book.... the first paragraph contradicts the following paragraph, “When the president used his power... shocked many citizens.”
This is the following paragraph, “Tensions among the nation’s political leaders had been escalating... Fights and mob violence followed.”
The author is not making any sense. Any logical sense. Isn't being logically clear. Isn't fact checking. Isn't assuring the author's work is logically flowing. Isn't providing assurance in the belief that the author is coherent with the topics in which is being written on their behalf.
This book, is a contribution to the title, "Four Threats: The Recurring Crisis of American Democracy."
This book presented the realities of the society's formal system of orders and operations in the current society's dire crisis. It is completely obvious... that is if the reader really takes the time to make sense to what is being presented in text, and ensuring that the logical presentation of the book's work builds on the topic to develop more clarity, rather than what I believe the book was presenting the context in, "Contradictory an hypocritical political stances, with great hateful bigotry."
Basically. Actually read and understand what you are reading. Rather than just reading the book's text to get through the book, so that the "self sense of accomplishment is achieved." The achievement of, "OH..... I read that book. It was good. Or. It wasn't that great."
This quote is an example of one of the threats, "delusional and self - entitled ness." But most importantly, "fabrication of entitled status. Acting and saying that you are more than what you are." This "comment's concept" was very much made clear in this book.
I read the book in its entirety. Fortunately, the book wasn't difficult to get through. For the book wasn't as dense and lengthy. But aside from the "read - time", I couldn't grasp what the political objective of this book was providing in foresight of what the future was entailing in system development and progression. This statement alone, is the reason why I read current political science novels. Which to social college degree acquires, that hopefully is given. More than likely.
The news doesn't really provide clarity, which is why I decided to read this book. Along with other Political Science Novels. What scared me was that the news broadcasting informatics of unclarity, now reflects in current book's context and content. I have no clue what my future entails now.
This should be the concern. Not the negative bigotry and hate for the president, the government, and the political system. That negative social influence (hate and bigotry) is just going to make the reality we are living in, worse.
So I suggest, rather than fueling the factor that is basically killing us. Re-evaluate your social conformity, for that the ideology of the current such Society way of life, is not working in humanity's benefits. More so working against humanity's means to survive.
August 11, 2020
Honestly, in the introduction alone, I wished that my AP US History class had this as a textbook instead of the glossed over “America has always been a democracy since day 1, with that little civil war towards the end of the 19th century” version that I had.
As a Millennial, I think it’s important to know that the never ending existential crisis regarding identity politics and the fragility of democracy is not something new, as older generations tend to imply. But rather, America has always had some threats building up or falling - and we are approaching a very important test for democracy.
Rating because it has a lot of good information, but is a bit repetitive and could be more concise.
As a Millennial, I think it’s important to know that the never ending existential crisis regarding identity politics and the fragility of democracy is not something new, as older generations tend to imply. But rather, America has always had some threats building up or falling - and we are approaching a very important test for democracy.
Rating because it has a lot of good information, but is a bit repetitive and could be more concise.
August 17, 2020
Everyone that cares about our democracy should read this book. It is excellent and well researched.
May 3, 2021
This book made me feel like I was listening to a series of college lectures, perhaps not a surprise given that the authors are both college professors. They believe in repetition to put their points across, using multiple chapters for introduction and then conclusions. If you have a decent working knowledge of American history and are up on current political events, there may be nothing new for you in this book. If, however, you need some perspective on the Trump presidency relative to other challenges in our history, this book is a good place to start.
September 20, 2020
Good book but I remain skeptical that the 4 issues are as important as postulated. There is great historical background that is a painful reminder of how inclusive the US could have been.
November 7, 2020
As someone who has not devoted much energy to studying American history, I found this book helped to put into perspective the threats facing our United States democracy today. Actually, I do remember U.S. history from high school one hundred years ago, but they didn't teach much about where our government failed or overstepped and why. Fifty-five years later a helpful corrective.
I learned about this book from a short webinar led by Mettler and sponsored by the Radcliffe Institute. The volume is approachable and readable, and in no sense a harangue or a screed about current threats, but a measured review of how we got here, and where we've been before. The impetus for the writers, though, was that this is the first time our country has faced all four simultaneously.
I wish there had been more ideas about how we emerge from this quadruple whammy. Perhaps the most important thing that has been brought home to me is the need for the party with the less political power - Democrats today - to take on the task of defending the pillars of democracy before pushing its own agenda. I wish it weren't so. I'd love to push for my lefty causes. But first things first. Restore respect for opposing views; lift up the core values of democracy that many in both parties can assent to; resist renewed attempts to limit who is a part of the political community; make elections fairer and more free. That's a big chunk of our current task.
I learned about this book from a short webinar led by Mettler and sponsored by the Radcliffe Institute. The volume is approachable and readable, and in no sense a harangue or a screed about current threats, but a measured review of how we got here, and where we've been before. The impetus for the writers, though, was that this is the first time our country has faced all four simultaneously.
I wish there had been more ideas about how we emerge from this quadruple whammy. Perhaps the most important thing that has been brought home to me is the need for the party with the less political power - Democrats today - to take on the task of defending the pillars of democracy before pushing its own agenda. I wish it weren't so. I'd love to push for my lefty causes. But first things first. Restore respect for opposing views; lift up the core values of democracy that many in both parties can assent to; resist renewed attempts to limit who is a part of the political community; make elections fairer and more free. That's a big chunk of our current task.
December 12, 2020
Readable and I quite liked the bits about various points in American history and the challenges our democracy has faced.
I honestly did not know that we once had a three-way tie for the presidency.
I disagreed with a couple of points: the claim that immigrants tend to be liberal. This seems to be factually dubious at best-- I know no liberal immigrants, nor have I read anything that bolsters this claim. Cuban immigrants voted for Trump. As did Romanian and Russian communities, to name a few.
It also suffers from the Northern liberal simplification of American history into the "evil, slaveholding South" vs. the "good, egalitarian North." BUT I think she does do a good job of actively demonstrating the damage that slavery did on the dream of American freedom, through every era and every decade.
Also I disliked the portrayal of the populist movement as harmless, and non-violent and forward-thinking.
I fear, though, that this book may be missing the audience that most needs to hear it. Liberals have heard most or all of the lessons here. Republicans are the ones who might benefit the most, and are the ones least likely to read something like this, as I have heard at least one openly thirsting for the end of democracy, in an eagerness to return to the simplicity and comfort of totalitarianism. I am worried that Biden will be the last real President, as reactionary forces gain more ground here.
I honestly did not know that we once had a three-way tie for the presidency.
I disagreed with a couple of points: the claim that immigrants tend to be liberal. This seems to be factually dubious at best-- I know no liberal immigrants, nor have I read anything that bolsters this claim. Cuban immigrants voted for Trump. As did Romanian and Russian communities, to name a few.
It also suffers from the Northern liberal simplification of American history into the "evil, slaveholding South" vs. the "good, egalitarian North." BUT I think she does do a good job of actively demonstrating the damage that slavery did on the dream of American freedom, through every era and every decade.
Also I disliked the portrayal of the populist movement as harmless, and non-violent and forward-thinking.
I fear, though, that this book may be missing the audience that most needs to hear it. Liberals have heard most or all of the lessons here. Republicans are the ones who might benefit the most, and are the ones least likely to read something like this, as I have heard at least one openly thirsting for the end of democracy, in an eagerness to return to the simplicity and comfort of totalitarianism. I am worried that Biden will be the last real President, as reactionary forces gain more ground here.
November 27, 2020
Great History
This was a very enlightening book about several periods of American history that I had not understood - the Alien and Sedition Act, the election of 1800, the mechanisms for the failure of Reconstruction, and the environment around FDRs presidency. I feel like the civil war has been beaten to death as has Nixon’s presidency, but that may be my bias.
Some parts of the book where very interesting. The framework is valuable, a list of four threats, but is not fully substantiated by evidence. I agree for example that economic inequality is terrible for a democracy but did not find it adequately defended in this book, it felt like a stretch.
I liked the pillars of democracy as a better framework for understanding how a democracy falls apart more than these four threats.
PBS recently had a documentary about the rise of Nazis - if you like this book and are curious how democracies fail, it’s a great documentary. It gives a real emotional sense of how things fall apart.
I started this book before the election. Biden has won, which should make me hopeful, but I’m not. And this book gives me the language to understand why I am still nervous about the US.
This was a very enlightening book about several periods of American history that I had not understood - the Alien and Sedition Act, the election of 1800, the mechanisms for the failure of Reconstruction, and the environment around FDRs presidency. I feel like the civil war has been beaten to death as has Nixon’s presidency, but that may be my bias.
Some parts of the book where very interesting. The framework is valuable, a list of four threats, but is not fully substantiated by evidence. I agree for example that economic inequality is terrible for a democracy but did not find it adequately defended in this book, it felt like a stretch.
I liked the pillars of democracy as a better framework for understanding how a democracy falls apart more than these four threats.
PBS recently had a documentary about the rise of Nazis - if you like this book and are curious how democracies fail, it’s a great documentary. It gives a real emotional sense of how things fall apart.
I started this book before the election. Biden has won, which should make me hopeful, but I’m not. And this book gives me the language to understand why I am still nervous about the US.
June 22, 2022
This is a very helpful book in the context of debates about American democracy. Many of the books raising concerns about our democracy have leveraged broadly international comparisons. This book grounds similar concerns in US history. It also takes quite seriously a number of occasions in which American democracy was genuinely under threat in our history and tries to find patterns.
While I found it very useful, I did get the sense that they had their framework and delivered on it. I wish that they had done some more discovery about the nature of their framework. In that sense, it feels a little bit more like polemic than history. But I found it really valuable
While I found it very useful, I did get the sense that they had their framework and delivered on it. I wish that they had done some more discovery about the nature of their framework. In that sense, it feels a little bit more like polemic than history. But I found it really valuable
January 27, 2023
A bit repetitive at parts, but overall a good read. I definitely learned details about the different historical time periods that I did not know. I do take issue with the idea that we can learn "more" from studying other time periods where American democracy seemed at risk than from studying other countries in this era where democracy seems to be eroding. Yes, we're at a pivotal moment with democracy under threat from all four sides described in this book, but they're also all intensified with the emergence of social media and the nonstop news cycle. I found it a little hard to see how the historical time periods described in this book could show us a way out of the current situation.
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November 14, 2020Like others have shared, I was surprised at how much history was in a book by two political scientists. The historical storytelling was an effective way to present the larger trends the authors describe.
I had the opportunity to talk with Robert Lieberman for a podcast I host and produce about democracy. We expanded on some of the book's main themes and talked about how they square with the democracy reform movement in the U.S.: https://democracyworks.simplecast.com...
I had the opportunity to talk with Robert Lieberman for a podcast I host and produce about democracy. We expanded on some of the book's main themes and talked about how they square with the democracy reform movement in the U.S.: https://democracyworks.simplecast.com...
April 30, 2025
An excellent read for understanding American government and the cycles it’s gone through over the years. In a way, it’s reassuring to know that even in the worst moments, it was never over so long as the people believed America could still work.
That being said, the last chapter is pretty outdated. Then again, I doubt the author had a crystal ball. Here’s hoping enough people still believe at the end of the day.
That being said, the last chapter is pretty outdated. Then again, I doubt the author had a crystal ball. Here’s hoping enough people still believe at the end of the day.
November 11, 2020
Very effectively lays out their argument in a solid framework and with lots of thorough analysis. But I was also hoping for more analysis of how to address the problems they identify, particularly that of executive aggrandizement in a politically polarized era. For these reasons it gets three rather than four stars.
January 14, 2021
An enlightening warning about the constant threat of democratic backsliding and a history lesson regarding previous periods in American history when the country has moved away from pure democracy rather than towards it. Useful context in today's environment. The solutions are relatively simple, but as difficult as they are important.
June 19, 2021
Most of us tend to be biased to think the events happening during our time are more significant than they are. This book helps to make it clear that the events happening today regarding American democracy are not exaggerated.
February 6, 2025
Very thought-provoking. The four threats Mettler and Lieberman identify make a lot of sense...curious what a revised version of the book would say now with Trump back for another term...and likely not his last.
August 31, 2020
Great book. I loved the history lesson!
November 3, 2020
Very interesting historical analysis, although it does read like an academic thesis.
January 22, 2022
You can choose to have this book depress you or you can choose to have it motivate you.
Let's roll.
Let's roll.
January 20, 2023
Great look at how the four main threats threaten our democracy
January 23, 2023
read for PSCI3893: Conflict and Compromise in American Democracy w/ Jon Meacham and John Geer
June 14, 2024
Excellent, well-researched, and a cautionary tale.
July 1, 2024
Read this book for my thesis - I love the historical perspective, very well written
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