Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America

by Heather Cox Richardson

New York Times Bestseller

“Engaging and highly accessible.” —Boston Globe

“A vibrant, and essential history of America's unending, enraging and utterly compelling struggle since its founding to live up to its own best ideals… It's both a cause for hope, and a call to arms.”--Jane Mayer, author Dark Money

From historian and author of the popular daily newsletter LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN, a vital narrative that explains how America, once a beacon of democracy, now teeters on the brink of autocracy -- and how we can turn back.

In the midst of the impeachment crisis of 2019, Heather Cox Richardson launched a daily Facebook essay providing the historical background of the daily torrent of news. It soon turned into a newsletter and its readership ballooned to more than 2 million dedicated readers who rely on her plainspoken and informed take on the present and past in America.

In Democracy Awakening , Richardson crafts a compelling and original narrative, explaining how, over the decades, a small group of wealthy people have made war on American ideals. By weaponizing language and promoting false history they have led us into authoritarianism -- creating a disaffected population and then promising to recreate an imagined past where those people could feel important again. She argues that taking our country back starts by remembering the elements of the nation’s true history that marginalized Americans have always upheld. Their dedication to the principles on which this nation was founded has enabled us to renew and expand our commitment to democracy in the past. Richardson sees this history as a roadmap for the nation’s future.

Richardson’s talent is to wrangle our giant, meandering, and confusing news feed into a coherent story that singles out what we should pay attention to, what the precedents are, and what possible paths lie ahead. In her trademark calm prose, she is realistic and optimistic about the future of democracy. Her command of history allows her to pivot effortlessly from the Founders to the abolitionists to Reconstruction to Goldwater to Mitch McConnell, highlighting the political legacies of the New Deal, the lingering fears of socialism, the death of the liberal consensus and birth of “movement conservatism.”

Many books tell us what has happened over the last five years. Democracy Awakening explains how we got to this perilous point, what our history really tells us about ourselves, and what the future of democracy can be.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics, Audiobook, American History, Social Justice, Essays

432 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2023

About the author

Heather Cox Richardson is a professor of history at Boston College and an expert on American political and economic history. She is the author of seven books, including the award-winning How the South Won the Civil War. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Guardian, among other outlets. Her widely read newsletter, Letters from an American, synthesizes history and modern political issues.

Reviews

[Bruce Katz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ignore the stars.

This book presents a challenge to me. It's clearly written, thorough, well-reasoned, passionate, and I agree with just about everything in it, but... I'll come back to that 'but" in a moment.

It's perfectly clear that Richardson wrote "Democracy Awakening" in response to the politics and culture wars of the past decade or so. Evidence of deeply felt (and to my mind absolutely legitimate) alarm forms the subtext to every page. The main argument of "Democracy Awakening" is that historically United States has always been a contest between two profoundly different visions. One, exemplified by a literal reading of the Declaration of Independence ("We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."), holds -- at least aspirationally -- that the country is best served by acknowledging the intrinsic value of all people regardless of race, religion, gender, etc., and using the authority of the federal government to advance and protect these rights and to improve the quality of life for all citizens. The other vision is informed by the proposition that individuals are responsible for their own well-being, that government should play as little a role as possible in peoples' lives and in the life of the country, and that some people are by way of natural law simply better than others.

Richardson traces these two visions as they compete with one another from the beginning of the American story, from the Founding, through the early years of the republic, the Civil War, Progressive Era, on to today. She makes no attempt to disguise which vision she shares. That's fine; it's the one I share as well. The problem, as I see it, is that the book compresses history so much and with such broad strokes that her analysis lacks any power to convince.

I found myself wondering again and again, who did she write the book for? She makes no bones about her belief that the first vision is the right one, that it is true to the spirit of the Founding Fathers, and is the side of the angels. The other side is at its heart authoritarian, open to oligarchy, and is shaped by the spirit of the plutocracy of the antebellum South. ("MAGA Republicans appeared to be on track to accomplish what the Confederates could not: the rejection of the Declaration of Independence and its replacement with the hierarchical vision of the Confederates.") It's a point she's made in other books she's written, as well as in her Substack postings. And it's one that I happen to agree with.

The heart of Richardson's understanding of our current predicament is apparent in this: "Antidemocratic leaders in the U.S. have convinced their followers not only that they are losing significance but also that by joining a movement to put their leaders in power they are defending the nation’s traditions. Those they convince willingly abandon the principle of equality and replace it with a conviction that some people are better than others and should be in control." Again, I don't entirely disagree but the characterization is so lacking in nuance, so baldly Manichean, that it leaves me cold.

Lest anyone miss what she wants us to understand is at stake, Richardson cites a report written after World War 2 for the OSS (precursor of today's CIA) and finally declassified in 1999: The U.S. Office of Strategic Services had picked up on Hitler’s manipulation of his followers when it described Hitler’s psychological profile. It said, “His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.” Parroting the lie becomes a loyalty pledge, even if—especially if—you don’t actually believe it.

I don't disagree with any of this, at least with the broad outlines of the argument, and I absolutely share the author's alarm, every bit of it. But I don't see "Democracy Awakening" as convincing anyone who doesn't already share Richardson's views. ActBlue contributors will nod their heads in agreement with Richardson and Fox viewers will not be aware the book exists at all. I don't say this to deride the author's effort or acuity or, most certainly, the validity of her argument. Basically, what I'm wrestling with, I suppose, is my own emotional exhaustion. I was reminded -- probably because the song is on several of my playlists -- of the line in Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" about "people singing songs and carrying signs/Mostly say hooray for our side."

One more suggestion: You might consider subscribing to her daily postings. She goes deep into what's going on in our politics and the history behind it all. Very rewarding.

(Addendum: As I write this, I'm happy to see this book is on the NY Times and other bestseller lists. I'm dismayed, but not surprised, to see that Mark Levin's "The Democratic Party Hates America" is too.)

My thanks to Viking Publishers and Edelweiss for providing a digital ARC in return for an honest review.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Favorite History/Biography Book I read in 2024

For over four years I have received this author’s newsletter in my email. She is a brilliant scholar and historian who is a professor of 19th-century history at Boston College.

And…In her newsletter…

She gave her factual accounting of the news of the day with a historical framework based on her own educational background.

I found her…Enlightening, and refreshing, especially during the height of the pandemic. Politics was gruesome and difficult to handle during that time.

And…I still read her daily newsletter. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack...

So…When her book came out, I was interested, and ordered a copy from my library.

And… When it came, my nose was immediately immersed in it.

I have included some meaningful quotes below. One in particular struck me…

“Democracies die more often through the ballot box than at gunpoint.”

It is heart-wrenching to consider that anyone would want Trump, a self-professed narcissistic authoritarian dictator to take office again. One who has no respect for our country or our laws or people. She goes on to ask…

“Why would voters give away their power to autocrats who inevitably destroy their livelihoods and sometimes execute their neighbors?”

She was referring to what occurred in WWII.

But…Her words were also referring to what is happening right now in 2024! We know what happened in Germany. Why would we want to repeat what Hitler did to his country and people?

Bottom line…

The key to the rise of authoritarians…

“…is their use of language and false history.”

Why do you think “they” are so keen on banning books! Trying to erase history?

She goes on to share that…

“Authoritarians rise when economic, social, political, or religious change makes members of a former powerful group feel as if they have been left behind.”

They think they are activists reclaiming their country, but instead they are spreading propaganda of hate and lies, because it is central to the identity of the people who are feeding the lies.

It becomes clear as we read more about authoritarianism, that the following conclusion can be easily drawn by readers…

‘Trump is a blemish on our democracy, and so is the new Republican party. It continues to undermine democracy. For anyone to think differently, they are not living in any basis of reality.’

Richardson’s focus of her book starting in the 1930’s is done on purpose. It is a wake-up call for readers to see what happened, and how repeating history is something we should not do!

After all…

It was because of the New Deal offerings, that Americans were able to overcome what Republican businessmen did to them from the stock market crash of 1929.

Richardson does an excellent job of showing the rise of Trump, including his anti-democratic and documented term in office. She mentions clearly the Russia probe revealing interference in the 2016 election.

As well as…The first impeachment revealing the interference in the 2020 election.

And…The second impeachment revealing efforts to overturn the 2020 election and inciting an insurrection.

So…It is impossible to review all these attempts by a U.S. President and wonder why he just didn’t try governing.

What is refreshing about Richardson is that she puts it out for readers to look at everything, through all the history she cites…

As factual information.

And see it for what it is…

This is history. This is evidence. This is the story.

“We are all Americans together, and we must not forget that the common good is our common interest and our individual responsibility.” – Jimmy Carter

No matter what your politics, this is a book review of this book.

And…Her research is extensive.

In closing…

Perhaps…Martin Gurri author of the book “The Revolt of the Public” and former CIA analyst said it best when it comes to how we might want to feel after reading this book or even my review…

“Our differences of opinion may seem profound, but all of us want what is best for our families, the neighborhoods we live in, and the country we love. We can raise our voices in anger but there should be no malice in this debate.”

[Sharon Orlopp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America is a powerful book by Heather Cox Richardson who also writes a daily message called Letters from an American. Cox shares the historical and current struggle between whether America is a nation where all people are equal and government should be based on the consent of the governed....or whether the United States is a nation where governing should be in the hands of one or a small group of elite men and people's rights vary depending on race, gender, sexual orientation/identification, disability, religion, etc.

Cox's thorough research reveals how authoritarians, like Hitler, harness social instability into their own service. The key to the rise of authoritarianism is the use of language and false history. Authoritarians rise when economic, social, political or religious change makes members of a formerly powerful group feel as if they have been left behind. As a strongman becomes more destructive, followers' loyalty increases.

Hitler, in his autobiography, Mein Kampf, wrote that people are more likely to believe a giant lie than a little lie. Big lies are so huge that no one believes they can be false. Hitler's tactics and psychological profile have been summarized with his primary rules:
* Never allow the public to cool off
* Never admit a fault or a wrong
* Never concede that there may be some good in your enemy
* Never leave room for alternatives
* Never accept blame
* Concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong
* People will believe a big lie sooner than a little one, especially if you frequently repeat it

The meat of the book traces the struggles of democracy throughout American history from the founding of the country to current day politics. The Civil War, Great Depression, WW II, Civil Rights, Women's Rights, Ruby Ridge, Waco, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building bombing, George Floyd, the pandemic, and many presidential races are included with detailed research and masterful writing.

Highly recommend!

[Betsy Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, historian and “people’s teacher” (via her social media and newsletters) Heather Cox Richardson has created a sweeping connect-the-dots history of how we got to where we are now. Where we are now—grappling between remaining a democracy or becoming an authoritarian country—has long roots, and in Parts 1 and 2, she starts at the beginning of American history and follows those roots into global history (mostly chronologically, but when she backtracks—specifically tracing the Nazi rally in Charlottesville, VA, back to its historical beginning—it is organic and easy to follow). Once we advance into the events of the last few years, people who follow the news will already be fully informed, but this is a book that will stand as a valuable history for future readers, so it is great to have all this documented in story form.

I cannot possibly reduce this work (or even retain as much as I’d like—this is a book to read multiple times), so suffice it to say: it is readable, fast, understandable, and rather than throwing in absolutely every detail as a lot of historians do, she opts to tell a specific American story efficiently: the story of American democracy—a belief that all people should have equal rights and have a government by their consent.

Because I’m interested in why people are so vulnerable to manipulation, power-greediness, and a herd-like compulsion to move with others even when doing so makes no sense and undermines democracy, I was particularly struck the very first time I read about a nonsense statement that split people into warring cultures:

[In 1971] Phyllis Schlafly said: “Women’s lib is a total assault on the role of the American woman as wife and mother and on the family as the basic unit of society. Women’s libbers are trying to make wives and mothers unhappy with their career. . . .” (pg. # NA)

This kind of statement, assuming that if anybody gets something (or said another way, if everybody gets equal rights), somebody else must lose something, is key to Movement Conservatism (creating rifts between oneself and others who are deemed “bad”) that Cox traces back to 1937. And it is key to the intentional attempt to destroy civil society, establish chaos—which most people will do anything to stop—and thereby lay the foundation for people’s desire for a “strong man” to make it stop, evoking authoritarianism and extinguishing democracy.

You could plug into this kind of “this causes that hurt/loss” statement any number of things: true history that includes our racist roots; the right to decide what we do with our bodies; climate change causes; etc. This critical false equivalence (lie), I believe, can only be combatted if people decide to think—use common sense—rather than react in fear of chaos. And common sense is a real possibility: In Part 3 of this book, Cox writes about how powerful common sense was in moving us to independence: Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense rejected the idea that any man could be born to rule others and called “ridiculous” the notion that an island should rule a continent. “Paine’s spark set to flame more than a decade of accumulating timber,” writes Cox, leading to declarations of independence. The real revolution Americans experienced was in thinking rather than fighting.

Here’s my common sense: It is absolute nonsense that women having equal pay and rights could hurt marriages. How? Women who want to be homemakers will not be forced to work. Teaching true history will not hurt white people; I and most white people I know will grapple with questions about our own commitment to what’s right and would we have been strong enough to act as an abolitionist? I don’t know anybody who identifies with slave-holders. If somebody does not want to accept equality and history of inequality, they don’t have to, but true history can still be taught in schools. If somebody doesn’t support the right to body autonomy for themselves, they don’t have to; nobody will ever force them to have an abortion and if they don’t want to make their own medical decisions, they can find some authority to hand responsibility over to. If somebody does not accept that our actions are destroying the earth, they are free to believe that. Yes, pollution regulation will change lives, but I wager that anybody who wants to pollute their home will still be able to do so. Nobody will have to love people they don’t love if others have the right to love who they love. You don’t have to believe what you don’t believe.

There is no loss for anybody if more people do better by telling the truth and having equal rights. The whole notion of consequent loss is nuts!

And it is on this belief in false equivalencies that this book’s history relies. As Cox writes about Trump’s attack on the Mueller investigation: “if he could get Americans to reject the truth and accept his lies about what had happened, they would be psychologically committed to him.” And this commitment has been expertly cultivated by a string of calculated lies, starting with something as seemingly stupid as inauguration crowd size, all the way up to saying a coup where people were killed and terrorized didn’t happen and insisting an election was stolen in the face of 60 courts and a Republican Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the United States Department of Homeland Security declaring there was no election fraud.

During Trump’s impeachment hearings over obstruction of justice and using the power of the presidency to try to steal an election, the Republicans used their majority to acquit, but Cox writes, “. . . the forty-eight senators who voted to convict Trump represented eighteen million more Americans than the fifty-two Republicans who voted to acquit. It was increasingly obvious that a minority was gaming the system against the majority and that their only hope of retaining power was to repress that majority. (pg. # NA)”

This is where we are. But Heather Cox Richardson doesn’t leave us there.

Part 3: Reclaiming America begins with a rousing question about whether equality and government by consent is even possible, and ends with a fanfare of all the marginalized individuals who believe in and fight for a more perfect union. It is community, she points out, that is the real backbone of this country: rather than lone cowboys riding the range, it was the barn-raising communities and everybody working together to make life possible. “Working together, across racial lines, ethnic lines, gender lines, and age lines, was what enabled people to defend their rights against a small group of elites determined to keep control of the country. (p. # NA)” This feels like an infusion of oxygen after the dire history in the first half of the book. And I welcomed beginning American history anew in this section, including not only white male founders, but everyone who was here, enumerating their accomplishments and participation in education and innovation, and above all, making vivid their fervid belief that with hard work, they could have the American dream—a belief that was and remains steadfast, despite the concurrent history of denial of their equal rights.

Now is not the first time our democracy has been in a fight for its life. In 1863, Cox writes, “. . . Americans had woken up. They realized that the very nature of America was under attack. They were divided among themselves [over slavery] and at first they didn’t really know how to fight back, but ordinary people quickly came to pitch in however they could. . . . Once awake, they found the strength of their majority. (p. #NA)”

I believe most of us want a democracy. I believe we are a huge majority—as proved by the 7 million more voters who voted to preserve it rather than support an autocrat in the last election. All that is required to preserve democracy is for the majority to wake up, use common sense, and refuse to mindlessly allow our freedom to be stolen by those who wish to divide us into warring factions based on bogus zero-sum concepts. Heather Cox Richardson has certainly done her part to sound an alarm clock.

***

I received a free advance reading copy of this book from Penguin Random House. Publication is September 26, 2023.

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I close the book, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, it seems that if America is not already in a constitutional crisis, we are barreling toward one. Over the weekend the Trump administration defied an order from a Federal judge halting the deportation of people through the Alien Enemies Act until it could work its way through the courts. When told two planes were in the air, the Trump administration defied an order from the court to turn them around.

Heather Cox Richardson, a professor of history at Boston State College, is an expert on American political and economic history. In the Acknowledgements, this esteemed historian says that the genesis of this book came from questions over the years how we got to this place in American history, and how can we get out. Indeed. The author does a wonderful job explaining how over the decades a small group of wealthy people have declared war on American ideals by weaponizing language and promoting false history leading us into authoritarianism. Heather Cox Richardson tells us that it is up to each of us to reclaim the principles upon which this country was founded and championed by marginalized Americans. This book outlines how we got to this point and what our history tells us about ourselves as well as discussing what the future of America may be. And a few quotes from the narrative to give one pause:

“The fundamental story of America is the constant struggle of all Americans, from all races, ethnicities, genders, and abilities, to make the belief that we are all created equal and have a right to have a say in our democracy come true. We are always in the process of creating ‘a more perfect union.’”

“But the true history of American democracy is that it is never finished. It is the story of people who have honored the idea that a nation can be based not in land or religion or race or hierarchies, but rather in the concept of human equality. That commitment, along with its corollary—that we have a right to consent to our government, which in turn should act in our interest—has brought us our powerful history of people working and sacrificing to bring those principles to life. Reclaiming our history of noble struggle reworks the polarizing language that has done us such a disservice while it undermines the ideology of authoritarianism.

[Tim Null · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical summary of turbulent times.

This book has three parts.

Part 1: Undermining Democracy.
The negative impact conservatives have had on democracy in the USA since 1930.

Part 2: The Authoritarian Experiment. The anti-democratic effects of Trump's first presidential campaign and his first term.

Part 3: Reclaiming America. This part of the book begins with questions. "Are the principles on which this nation was founded viable? ... was the whole concept of American democracy a sham from the start?" Then it discusses Lincoln's vision and how America can be reclaimed.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I frequently read and enjoy Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters to America, her daily Facebook/email message connecting current and historical events. I enjoyed Democracy Awakening even more. Cox Richardson, a historian of US politics, has an important voice for these times.

Cox Richardson notes America’s current struggles are not unique, with this struggle for supremacy of wealthy whites vs egalitarianism was seen at the start of the US, during and then after the Civil War, as the New Deal, and over the last 40 years of the US (especially the last eight). The struggles for equality leave us vulnerable to authoritarianism.

Authoritarians rise when economic, social, political, or religious change makes members of a formerly powerful group feel as if they have been left behind. Their frustration makes them vulnerable to leaders who promise to make them dominant again. A strongman downplays the real conditions that have created their problems and tells them that the only reason they have been dispossessed is that enemies have cheated them of power. (p. xii)

Even the methods for responding to the liberal consensus repeat: derogation of other groups, evidence-less claims, slanted language about liberals and progressive outcomes (even moderates get called socialists), gerrymandering, restrictions on voting, “Get people fighting first and they can be led toward right-wing politics next” (p. 112).

On the one hand, the ideas in Democracy Awakening are disheartening, but at the same time Cox Richardson’s voice is both smart and optimistic. Reading her makes my heart swell.

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of the United States of America has been an intellectual battle for a single ideal: equality. While the names have changed over the two centuries of the existence of the country, there have always only been two sides: those who have fought and died for equality for all (white, non-white, men, women, gay, straight, and everyone in between) and those who want power collected in the hands of a select few (white, male, and rich).

Historian Heather Cox Richardson has written a succinct but powerful history in her book "Democracy Awakening", which examines, in a short 286 pages, the struggle for black people, women, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, and the poor to have a voice in our imperfect democracy. It is a struggle that is ongoing and, probably, never-ending.

A must-read for anyone who still believes in the experiment started by our Founding Fathers in 1776, when the words "All men are created equal" were written on a page by Thomas Jefferson.

[Bill on GR Sabbatical · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about how a small group of people have tried to make us believe that our fundamental principles aren't true. They have made war on American democracy by using language that served their interests, then led us toward authoritarianism by creating a disaffected population and promising to re-create an imagined past where those people could feel important again. As they took control, they falsely claimed they were following the nation's true and natural laws.

This is the first time I have read anything by the historian, professor, and writer Heather Cox Richardson and I found it to be a well-researched, articulate, and persuasive account of the ongoing struggle between those who believe in and pursue the unique American ideals of equality and democracy and those who believe that democracy is no longer a viable form of government, if it ever was, and support authoritarianism. But then, I would, because I share many of Richardson's values. I don't think that this is a book that will change many minds, but it's bracing reading for those who support equality and democracy. Not long ago, my book club read Eric Hoffer's short classic The True Believer and it provides interesting context to Richardson's narrative of American political history.

This book is also the story of how democracy has persisted throughout our history despite the many attempts to undermine it. It is the story of the American people, especially those whom the powerful have tried to marginalize, who first backed the idea of equality and a government that defended it, and then, throughout history, have fought to expand that definition to create a government that can, once and for all, finally make it real.

[Thomas Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, Heather Cox Richardson, 2023, 286 pages, ISBN 9780593652961, Dewey 320.473

Outstanding history of the past few decades of U.S. politics. Focuses on Trump and the danger of authoritarianism. Recaps U.S. history to show that authoritarianism isn't us.

In 1987, members of the Federal Communications Commission appointed by Reagan ended the Fairness Doctrine, which had protected public information since the earliest days of radio, in the 1920s. In order to get a public license, a radio station had to agree to present information honestly and fairly and to balance different points of view. Movement Conservatives demanded an end to the Fairness Doctrine. By 1988, talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh had gone national. Fox News began shortly thereafter. pp. 54-55. Republicans had created an underclass of Americans falling behind economically. They then gave that underclass someone to hate. p. 57.

Richardson sees Republicans in black hats, Democrats in white.

But, Democrats are also eager to take no meaningful action on climate change; to take military action provoking enmity; to serve concentrated wealth. [See Noam Chomsky, What Uncle Sam Really Wants, 1992, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And this 2020 article on Joe Biden's crimes, by Nathan J. Robinson:
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2...
]

Except on judicial appointments. The six Republican appointees on the Supreme Court are terrorists; the three Democratic appointees are comparatively reasonable. [See Justice on the Brink, Linda Greenhouse, 2021, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ]


Authoritarians rise when members of a formerly powerful group feel they've been left behind. p. xii. [See Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1968, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ]

Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's masters. --Grover Cleveland, 1889. p. 223, chapter 28. Wall Street owns the country. --Mary Elizabeth Lease, 1890. p. 224. Businessmen had bought and paid for politicians and the media to concentrate the nation's wealth in their own hands. p. 226. [See Origins of the Federal Reserve System: Money, Class, and Corporate Capitalism, 1890–1913, James Livingston, 1986: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ]

The effective top federal income tax rate under Eisenhower was 70%. [See Dark Money, Jane Mayer, 2016, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... , and A Brief History of Equality, Thomas Piketty, 2022, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ]




Richardson on vote suppression: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack...
documented.net article: https://documented.net/reporting/righ...
and in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...

Heather Cox Richardson writes a wonderful summary of today's news (she's been posting at about 2am Chicago time every day; about once a week she takes a day off: "Today was an absolutely perfect July day and I'm not going to ruin it by looking at the news."--https://heathercoxrichardson.substack... )
at
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack...
Except, bizarrely, she doesn't know that the Clinton-Clinton-Obama-Biden-Harris party /always/ serves the investor class, to our cost. Biden forced Mexico to consume Monsanto genetically-modified corn: (English & Spanish: https://www.jornada.com.mx/notas/2023... ). Clinton quietly sent bankers to arrange world trade deals that race to the bottom in environmental and worker protections, to enrich bankers and multinationals. Clinton quietly exploded the prison population. Obama quietly took /no/ action on climate change, quietly rolled out a lobbyist-written medical-insurance plan that authorizes insurers to charge us 25% more than they pay providers: they're on cost-plus, for the first time ever. Obama quietly amplified the Asian wars, and vastly expanded drone warfare. Obama quietly bailed out Wall Street and left the rest of us to fend for ourselves. We can have Wall Street's left-hand puppet quietly serving up the world to the rich, saying, "yes we can!" or, "I'm the change agent!" Or we can have Wall Street's right-hand puppet doing the exact same things, loudly railing against "illegals," "socialists," "liberals", "Eurocrats." To read Heather Cox Richardson, that choice is enough. It is not. Democrats have proven they will do nothing to curb climate change, will not tax the rich, will continue to enact lobbyist-written laws they haven't read. Sure, Republicans are even worse. Democrats do not deserve the free pass Richardson gives them, merely for not being Republicans.



Even FDR, who did more than any other president to make the playing field between the rich and the rest of us less vertical, did so largely by using our Pacific fleet to prevent fuel from entering Japan, to force Japan to go to war with us, so U.S. corporations, not Japan, would control the former European Pacific and Southeast Asian colonies.

But Richardson writes as if she doesn't know that FDR took us to war so that corporations could take the Dutch and French colonies:

America fought World War II to defend democracy from fascism. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack...

Here's Heather Cox Richardson's post on the first labor day: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack...

On voter intimidation:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack...

[L · Rating 1 out of 5]

After reading the author’s blog for a few months and eagerly waiting for this book to become available from the library, I could not be more disappointed.

I am an independent voter, interested in thoughtful political discourse and specifically interested in understanding the drift from democracy among some people in the US and in other nations.

A year or so ago, I caught a discussion between Hillary Clinton and Anne Applebaum on this topic and subsequently read Applebaum’s book, “ The Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism”. Applebaum’s book was thoughtful and although I didn’t agree with everything it was helpful in illustrating the conditions that tip the scale toward authoritarianism. I could examine events in our history and explore opportunities that individual citizens have to stand up for democracy and counter propaganda.

Heather Cox Richardson’s work, Democracy Awakening, felt like a string of subjective, political opinions spanning most of the last 100 years. It felt like the toxic political discourse that caused me to unhook from cable news several years ago, and that Anne Applebaum suggests we must guard against, as it undermines democracy. My opinion of HCR and her integrity went way down. I now see her as part of the problem of breeding distrust and undermining democracy.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Viking Books for choosing me!

This book should be mandatory reading for every single person living in America. It should be talked about. It should be in every single library and bookstore accessible to everyone. Heather Cox Richardson gives us a lot of information, and she is able to present it in chapters that aren't excessively long or tedious. Although she covers a wide range of our history (which can sometimes be difficult or confusing to do), she manages to keep it interesting, and the flow of her writing is easy to follow to the very end.

It is a book that deserves to be in the spotlight.

[Sonny · Rating 5 out of 5]

― “America is at a crossroads. A country that once stood as the global symbol of democracy has been teetering on the brink of authoritarianism. How did this happen? Is the fall of democracy in the United States inevitable? And if not, how can we reclaim our democratic principles? This crisis in American democracy crept up on many of us. For generations of Americans, grainy news footage from World War II showing row upon row of Nazi soldiers goose-stepping in military parades tricked us into thinking that the Adolf Hitlers of the world arrive at the head of giant armies. So long as we didn’t see tanks in our streets, we imagined that democracy was secure. But in fact, Hitler’s rise to absolute power began with his consolidation of political influence to win 36.8 percent of the vote in 1932, which he parlayed into a deal to become German chancellor. The absolute dictatorship came afterward.”
― Heather Cox Richardson, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America

From the time of its founding, one of the more common things said about American democracy is that it is an “experiment.” The founding fathers, acting under the guidance of reason and experience, chose the form of government under which we should live. They knew from the study of history that republics—in which political power rests with the representatives of the people—and democracies were highly susceptible to subversion. Historically, that subversion came from within—from the weakening of public virtue and demagoguery—and from enemies abroad. The very nature of democracy leaves it vulnerable to anarchy and subversion. Establishing a republic on paper was easy; preserving it would be the hard part.

― “Democracies die more often through the ballot box than at gunpoint.”
― Heather Cox Richardson, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America

American democracy has faced genuine threats to its existence. Thomas Jefferson warned Americans that “the price of Liberty is eternal vigilance.” Democracy Awakening describes the struggles our democracy has faced and continues to face from those who seem bent on moving us toward authoritarianism. Richardson reminds her readers that independence did not immediately lead to the Constitution. Initially, the Second Continental Congress adopted Articles of Confederation in 1777. Just a few years later, several of the Founding Fathers feared their young country was on the brink of collapse. With the states retaining considerable power, the central government had insufficient power to regulate commerce or to tax. The states were on the brink of economic disaster; and the central government had little power to settle quarrels between states. These problems threatened to tear the infant nation apart.

In the period before the Civil War, despite a healthy, two-party system, there were some genuine challenges to democratic institutions. Armed white supremacist militias repeatedly disrupted elections. The constant threat of violence rendered it nearly impossible for leaders to cope effectively with the most urgent issues of the day, including territorial expansion. Already reeling, democracy teetered. The attempt of Southern states to dissolve the Union in the 1860s represented another crisis when the democratic experiment experienced a grave trial.

The Pledge of Allegiance proclaims that the United States is a nation that promises “liberty, and justice for all.” Yet our nation has repeatedly failed to live up to that promise, beginning with the first slaves arriving in Jamestown in 1619. Even after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, white supremacists and Jim Crow laws kept blacks from enjoying those promises well into the 20th century. Japanese Americans were mistreated during World War II. Women did not have equal rights until the 1970s. Richardson points out that, even today, “with the help of the language of authoritarianism and the use of mythological history, MAGA Republicans appeared to be on track to accomplish what the Confederates could not: the rejection of the Declaration of Independence and its replacement with the hierarchical vision of the Confederates.”

Today, there are serious cracks in some of the pillars of American democracy. Richardson summarizes events leading to the 2016 election. The second part of the book explores the four years of the first Trump administration. While America may have flirted with authoritarianism in the past, the country came frighteningly close to it during Trump’s first term. Trump repeatedly defined black and brown people, and even women, as inferiors, either criminals or weak-minded people unable to think and act for themselves.

― “As a strongman becomes more and more destructive, followers’ loyalty only increases. Having begun to treat their perceived enemies badly, they need to believe their victims deserve it. Turning against the leader who inspired such behavior would mean admitting they had been wrong and that they, not their enemies, are evil. This, they cannot do.”
― Heather Cox Richardson, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America

Democracy Awakening is a difficult read. Richardson pulls no punches in detailing the troubled history of the American experiment. But it is an important book that needs to be read. We cannot hide from the danger that America currently faces. Those who read my review and conclude that I am a liberal: you are wrong. I am an evangelical and a conservative who voted Republican for forty years. Yet I recognize that Donald Trump and the MAGA movement represent an existential threat to the American democracy.

[Frank Almaraz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel experiment was attempted at the founding of America - that a nation could be founded on the rule of law.  More specifically, that the government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. Today though, America is titiering on authoritarianism - is this inevitable or preventable?  

This book covers a history of a liberal consensus that had pushed America forward in the direction of democratic values most of the time little by little, but sometimes making large strides. It also details the ways throughout history that conservatives have tried to roll back these consequential advancements.

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heather Cox Richardson has a clean and direct style of writing that Andy White would admire, as do I. Richardson relays and distills much of American history as it relates to periodic efforts to undermine the idea (and the promise) of America.

This is not just a polemic against the former Republican Party. Still, the current crop of MAGA Republicans is confirmed as the latest-- and perhaps the most successful-- actors undermining democracy and the rule of law. (As an aside, it is particularly galling to acknowledge that America's democratic ideals have been successfully degraded and attacked by two 3rd-rate television actors turned professional politicians.)

Richardson is skilled at revealing the trends, the underlying causes of political movements, and subsequent reactions (and over-reactions) by the American electorate. I plan to re-read Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America with an eye to political histories and biographies deserving more examination.

Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America deserves 5 stars if only for the clear-eyed and straightforward writing. I look forward to reading more of her work.

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book the author Richardson explores examples in American history where forces of authoritarianism (and restriction of rights) have been stopped by holding true to the promise of equality in the Declaration of Independence.

Part 1: Undermining Democracy
The book traces the battle between the development of the liberal consensus through the 40s and 50s and the eventual resurgence of movement conservatism in the 80s and beyond as the Republican adopted the Southern strategy using fascist strategies that pushed fears of race relations. This created conditions conducive to the shift toward authoritarianism.

Part 2: The Authoritarian Experiment
Trump behaved like an authoritarian from the beginning functioning as a populist leader driven by self-interest and vengeance by replacing competent civil service employees with often inexperienced loyalists. This was not the intent of establishment Republicans, but Trump was a new and dangerous kind of president who was beyond their control.

Part 3: Reclaiming America
Richardson returns to the nation’s founding to demonstrate that the history of America offers a roadmap for resisting authoritarianism. Beginning with the promise of equality contained in the Declaration of Independence American history is filled examples of expansion of rights versus examples of restriction of rights to help maintain minority rule. Equality expansion has prevailed in the past and it can again in 2024,

Conclusion
2024 is a dangerous moment in history with an authoritarian Trump running for president again, but Richardson finds hope in the examples of Americans’ rising up in the past to defend the Founders’ ideals of equality.

Excerpts: The following excerpts from Democracy Awakening were selected by David Nelson for the Vital Conversations group.

“This book is the story of how democracy has
persisted throughout our history despite the many attempts to undermine it. It is the story of the American people, especially those whom the powerful have tried to marginalize, who first backed the idea of equality and a government that defended it, and then, throughout history, have fought to expand that definition to create a government that can, once and for all finally make it real.” (p.xvii).

“The word conservative began to take on specific political meaning in the U.S. when antislavery northerners refused to honor the Fugitive Slave Act that was part of the Compromise of 1850. That law required federal officials, including those in free states, to return to the South anyone a white enslaver claimed was his property. Black American could not testify in their own defense, and anyone helping a ‘runaway’ could be imprisoned for six months and fined one thousand dollars, which was about three years’ income.” (p.7).

“When voters elected Lincoln president, his centering of the Declaration of Independence led the Republican Party to create a new, active government that guaranteed poorer men would have access to resources that the wealthy had previously monopolized. They put men onto homesteads, created public universities, chartered a transcontinental railroad, invented national taxation (including the income tax), and, of course, ended Black enslavement in America except as punishment of crime. As Lincoln wrote, ‘The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves – in their separate, and individual capacities.” (p.9)

“The use of the word socialism by those opposed to the liberal consensus had virtually nothing to do with actual international socialism, which developed in the late nineteenth century and burst into international prominence when the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia overthrew Czar Nicholas II. International socialism is based on the ideas of mid-nineteenth-century political theorists Karl Marx who believed that as the wealthy crushed the working class during late-stage capitalism, people would rise up to take control of the means of production: factories, farms, and so on.” (p.26)

“Enlightenment thinkers had rejected leadership based on religion or birth, arguing instead that society move forward when people made good choices after hearing arguments based on fact. But this Enlightenment idea must be replaced, William F. Buckley Jr. argued in God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of Academic Freedom, because Americans kept choosing the liberal consensus, which, to his mind, was obviously wrong. He concluded that the nation’s universities must stop using the fact-based arguments that he insisted led to ‘secularism and collectivism,’ and instead teach the values of
Christianity and individualism. His traditional ideology would create citizens who would vote against the orthodoxy of the liberal consensus, he said. Instead, they would create a new orthodoxy of religion and ideology of free markets.” (p.29)

“On one hand were the ‘Liberals’ who they insisted were basically communists (they capitalized the word to make it like the Chinese Communist Party, which was on everyone’s mind after its 1949 takeover of China’s government). This was not some limited group of conspirators; it was the vast majority of Americans: anyone, Republican or Democrat, who believed that the government should regulate business, protect social welfare, promote infrastructure, and protect civil rights, and who believed in fact-based argument.” (p.30)

“In Goldwater, Movement Conservatism and the racist mythology of the post-Civil War years came together. Hoping to boost Goldwater for president in 1960, his supporters hired Bozell to write a position platform for him. Published as a book under Goldwater’s name, it was titled The Conscience of a Conservative. Joining the opposition to the federal defense of civil rights with Movement Conservative hatred of business regulation, it was more than a part platform. It was a general manifesto against the liberal consensus.” (p.32)

“The southern strategy marked the switch of the parties’ positions over the issue of race. Johnson knew what that meant; the nation’s move toward equality would provide a weapon for a certain kind of politician to rise to power...The stage was set, with rhetoric and policy, for the rise of authoritarianism.” (39) “The idea of ‘alternative facts’ revealed that this seemingly stupid lie about the crowd size was not only a way to get media coverage but also an important demonstration of dominance...Trump straight-up lied, and he demanded that his loyalist parrot his lies.” (95) “Republican congresspeople, who surely knew that what they were hearing was completely divorced from reality, repeatedly jumped to their feet to applaud it. The president had made it clear he controlled the reliably Republican voters in his base, and no Republican could cross him. It was clearly Trump’s party, to do with as he wished.” (p.132)

“Today's crisis in democracy has brought us back to the same question that haunted the founders: Are the principles on which this nation was founded viable? Is it really possible to create a country in which everyone is equal before the law and entitled to have a stay in their government or are some people better than others and thus have the right and the duty to rule?” (p.163)

“The same men who put their lives on the line to establish that all men are created equal literally owned other human beings. They considered indigenous people ‘savages’ and women subordinate to men by definition. Neither black men nor Indians nor women fall into their definition of people who were ‘equal’ or who needed to consent to the government under which they lived” (p.164)

“The Gettysburg Address marked the birth of a new nation, one that would not include human enslavement except as punishment for crime...for the first time in history, a constitutional amendment increased, rather than decreased, the power of the federal government.” (205). “The Civil War and its aftermath were America’s second attempt at creating a nation based on the Declaration of Independence, establishing once and for all the supremacy of the federal government, and using it to guarantee equality before the law and equal access to resources.” (p.209)

[Colleen Browne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated this book 4 for a few reasons. The early part of the book had some inaccuracies inexcusable for a professional historian, in my opinion. The two that come to mind is a reference to Truman's Second Inaugural. Truman was elected only once. He took over upon the death of FDR, finished the term and then ran in 1948. He did not run again. Adlai Stevenson was the Democratic candidate in 1952 so Truman had just one inauguration. The second rather blatant mistake, I think, was her reference to Eisenhower as a great civil rights president. He basis for it was the appointment of Earl Warren as Chief Justice, sending the troops to Little Rock, and signing the 1957 Civil Rights Act. Ike appointed Warren, the Republican governor of CA expecting a conservative judge. He said many times after that he regretted appointing him. He sent troops to Little Rock but did it kicking and screaming. Finally the civil rights law was a very weak law that Congress passed and he signed but was not crazy about it.

The book does a great job of drawing a line from Nixon (through the people who worked for him who then served other Republican presidents later), through Reagan, to the jr Bush to Trump. She takes all the things that happened during these administrations and explains how while they all wanted to destroy the democratic consensus until Trump has done it very openly. It is generally a very good book but I could not figure out why she started in the present then about half way through the book, went back to the Framers and moved forward.

I still recommend the book because she puts everything that has happened with regard to the democratic consensus in perspective.

[Emily Kaminsky · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the most hypocritical book. And someone is going to read this review and be like see! You are a brainwashed conservative. So there’s clearly no point in making this long because the left won’t even have a factual conversation. So my two thoughts.

1. The book insinuates that democrats are a pure as the driven snow. That’s not true. Both parties have MAJOR flaws.

2. Talk about a book written in sound bites, obfuscating reality. I could give many examples of gaslighting in this book but I’ll just leave one here. The author quotes the famous line of Trump saying “there were fine people on both sides” in regards to the Charlottesville riot. What the author failed to provide is the entire context of that statement Trump made. If you read the entire transcript Trump says “You had people and I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists. They should be condemned totally. You had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists. The press has treated them absolutely unfairly. Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people but you also had troublemakers and you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats. You had a lot of bad people in the other group too.”

Not sure how you can write, an “entire” history of the country that claims Republicans are an authoritarian group, destroying American values in less than 300 pages. This book is ignorant of reality. Truth is not a left wing value.

[Wick Welker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The dance between progressivism, conservatism and the threat of authoritarianism.

I've read at least a dozen of these post-mortem Trump critiques and this one is definitely very good. Not only does Richardson go over the ins and outs of the rise and threats of Trumpism but she gives a welcomed and succinct review of American history and its conflicts between progressivism and conservatism. This is not a vital read unless you haven't read a book like this.

[Kathryn Bashaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Richardson's. I love her daily Letters From an American, so I really looked forward to this book. But it read to me like some book publisher wanted to take advantage of her popularity, convinced her to write a book, and then rushed her to pound it out.

The book is a high-level recap of American political history through the lens of Richardson's premise that American democracy is about the struggle between ordinary people who want to have a say in their destinies and elites who want to hoard power. I agree with her on that premise. But, I already know the history of the democratic struggle in our nation. The book might be more interesting to people who don't already know the history. But, to me, it was a rehash.

It also seemed to me that most of the chapters were reworkings of some of her Letters. And the book seemed a little disorganized. Some of the chapters felt out of place to me. What I was hoping for from this book was something about HOW our democracy can reawaken and start to provide the "liberty and justice for all" that is the promise of our nation. I know that Richardson is primarily a historian, but her Letters are so inspiring; I was looking for some more inspiration and hope, not a rehash.

Like my reviews? Check out my blog
Author of The Saint's Mistress

[Jeff J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author argues that America slowly descended from democracy to autocracy until the election of Biden reversed the trend. She conveniently overlooks the cults of personality around Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton, or the dramatic rise of the administrative state under President Obama (which was largely rolled back by the Trump Presidency). Her allegations of gaslighting by Donald Trump have some merit, although this book as a whole is the strongest example of gaslighting and cherry-picking I’ve read. Her praise for the actions of the Biden administration shows she is not immune from blindly following a charismatic leader.

[Rhonda · Rating 1 out of 5]

A dear friend of mine was excited that I read this book and she graciously sent it to me. I immediately began perusing the introduction and I read it carefully. In fact, I read it twice and made notes, wondering whether I was reading it quite right. While it is true that I am politically a conservative, I was determined to give it a fair shot and, in doing so, I promise to not complain that things should be another way. Politics is, alas, a great deal about opinion and how we feel that others are trying to erase our ability to live as we like. However, and I regard this with trepidation, this book appears to be trying to convince the reader that some of us have inadvertently fallen under the spell of a nefarious overlord. Unfortunately, the parallels she uses appear to be either weak or just plain incorrect.
America is at a crossroads, I agree. But first, we have never been a democracy, but a republic and there is a distinct difference, one which I ought not to have to explain. I think that the crossroads we face is from a group of people who are interested in establishing a one world government, eliminating the middle class in America and essentially controlling every facet of the lifestyle of citizens. This is being done by ensuring that the central government is strong enough to dictate the way citizens live to the states. The US Constitution is based on not only the precept that we receive our rights from God and not men or law, but it also has its amendments which explain what rights citizens have and protection against the central government from taking those rights away. I don't like others controlling my life and I have studied the Constitution, its Bill of Rights, and great books such as The Federalist Papers thoroughly.
The idea that Republicans are Nazis is ridiculous. In the first place, Nazis were socialists. Hitler knew his party was in serious competition with the communists in Germany. He burned down the Reichstag and blamed it on the communists in order to extol the virtues of Nazis. Further, the Nazi party required a strong central government, just like the communists. Hitler, in fact, promoted his local police to work at a national rather than local level because he required strong central government. He then, essentially, adopted Roehm's paramilitary group, popularly known as the Brown Shirts, because they wore a uniform of that color which were purchased from the Italians. They and other groups became the stand-ins for the local police and essentially established Nazi rule. Hitler had Roehm killed and took over the Brown Thugs. You can look up The Night of the Long Knives.
I mention all this for one reason: we have had four years of the person Richardson fears will suck the life from our country. Not only did he not design or actually do any of the things that Hitler did, including any effort at establishing the central government as being dictatorial, but he was insistent on handing the rights back to the states. Hence, I wish to state once, and hope I never have to hear it again, wherever the leftist ideology that came from which compared Nazi Germany to a presidential reign of Donald Trump, let's just send it back into Never-Neverland. Best example of this being true: the overthrow of Roe versus Wade did not ban abortions, but only sent this back to the states.

On to other issues, Richardson would like us to believe that the issue of slavery had to do with a bunch of white supremacists tromping on black people's rights. Let us put aside the entire argument about black people owning slaves as well as the people who first sold Africans into the slave trade. The issue of slavery was a huge stumbling point in the ratification of the US Constitution. Some wished to maintain that slavery should be abolished completely, but, and primarily the Southern states, maintained that they would not have a government dictate how their economy should work. It was almost the breaking point, and a compromise was made and the Constitution was ratified.

Now there has been too much written about the South for me to make many assertions without intricate argument. but I will say that the economy of the South was at its peak in 1838. There is no doubt at all that the slave economy was dying and worn out soil had pushed the crops, primarily cotton, south and west. Virginia had its lingering plantations, but tobacco was a difficult crop and became a poor crop for the South because it wore the soil out. But maybe one in 15 people in the South owned slaves. Most large plantations had everyone in the family out working in order to prosper, but the great issue is that most people did not own slaves. So the question I have often asked is, if the Civil War was about slavery, what were the people who didn't own slaves fighting for?
Now before you become irate and start telling me about how bad the Southern attitude was towards the Negro, I am old enough to remember that on our trips to Florida, there was a prominent hotel in North Carolina which stated in large letters that it was for colored people. I remember seeing colored water fountains and I was horrified. I remember that there were places, when I was a bit older, that black people could not go. I thought it was a joke, but it was very real. The reason I say this is that I understand that rednecks didn't think that black people measured up, to be polite. It had been explained to me, when I was young, that people each had their place. At my grandfather's country club, which happened to be in Pittsburgh, rather than Selma, the black males cleaned our golf shoes and the black women served our food. I say this because, even though we didn't walk around with a whip, the people in the North were every bit as racist as Southerners were, but probably not as vicious. I think that the great majority of people through the middle of the 20th century didn't wish to allow black people to have the rights of white people.

I regret having to say such things because I promised I wouldn't accuse Richardson of ethnic bias, but the issue seems to me that she is just wrong about trying to make conservatives into nasty people who hated black people and plotted against the middle class. It's nonsense. Anyone who has studied American history at the college level knows that there were lots of nasty people, many of whom became wealthy on the backs of others. It is often said that Carnegie created so many projects so that he could purchase a clean conscience, but I digress.

On to the Roosevelt era, the one which wanted to pack the Supreme Court, by the way, and I am no fan of Franklin Roosevelt. I did notice how Richardson never mentioned that he turned away a boatload of Jews, refusing to allow them to land in America. Antisemitism? Oh that's only for conservatives, isn't it? It is true that there was a large contingent of people in this country who were pro-German. In fact, German was the most popular language taught in schools from the early part of the 20th century. Germans were industrious and hardworking people who got caught up in the war that began in the middle of the 19th century, when Britain and France would try and overcome other countries. One need only look to Great Britain's history and why they have so many curry shops in London these days.

The Treaty of Versailles left Germany broken and incapable of making much out of itself. I won't bore you with the stories of inflation, but I first saw the word "billion" associated with the mark in post war Germany. Sad, but in punishing Germany, European countries wanted to ensure it was painful. It was painful, but the new democratic government in Germany fell apart, didn't it? And Europe laughed at them and it created the very fertile field for a demagogue like Hitler. BTW, I recall a bunch of liberal British who thought that Hitler was doing a great job for a few years. I doubt that many people liked the Jews, and no one came to their defense when the Nuremberg Laws took away their citizenship. No one will say it today, but no one liked the Jews very much, historically. Russia and Poland were good to them for a while, but anyway....I had someone tell me that all the pictures in Gaza were all faked and it was the fault of the Jews anyway...and this was a confirmed liberal.
Anyway, The New Deal did absolutely nothing to get the US out of the Great Depression. Did you know that only ten years before, the Congress had considered passing a law which outlawed poverty? The reason was that people, at least on paper, were making too much money. It wasn't the rich just being greedy, but anyone with any money whatsoever was buying stocks which kept going up! The middle class was a great part of this.
I wish I could go on and talk about all the other nefarious criminals that Richardson associates with conservatives. You read this book and you might just forget that there were people like Clinton or Obama in the White House. She talks about he Great Society of Lyndon Johnson like he was some sort of miracle worker and modern-day saint: he wasn't and anyone who has not read Thomas Sowell on the subject should immediately do so.

All in all, I didn't hate this book. I admired her zeal in being able to write it although it hurts me to think anyone would believe a word of it. I think it's a terrible lie, all the way from avoiding the effects of turning against Godly behavior, something stated clearly by George Washington in his First Inaugural Address, to the references to Archie Bunker as a model for conservatives. Frankly, compared to the Democrat presidents, I think Richard Nixon was a great man. Yeah, he broke into a minor Democrat headquarters, but he understood that we had to support Israel against the onslaught of Antisemitism.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have tremendous respect for Heather Cox Richardson. Daily she shares the truth about United States history and current events in her newsletter. I appreciate not only her telling of history but also that she provides references for all of her main points.

Now onto her new book, Democracy Awakening: It is a great, relatively short read of American democracy since it’s inception up to current day. Like her newsletter, the writing is a simple telling of facts. She isn’t a historian who weaves history into a story. She simply puts the key facts on the page.

If you would appreciate an honest telling of the history of American democracy, and you want it in a concise but readable and interesting format, this is your book! I learned a great deal about the history of American democracy from this book.

[Dick Peller · Rating 5 out of 5]

How I wish this were required reading for our high school students. Professor Richardson is a brilliant historian and a national treasure.

[Keri Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a lot of respect for this author and her approach and knowledge as a historian. Because most who would be drawn to this book can see the mess our country is in, and maybe many are more knowledgeable politically, but most or many of us can learn from history.

I always considered myself non-political. Even before today’s crazy biased entertainment news, I knew that I couldn’t truly be informed by reading a few newspapers or listening to the news occasionally and felt unfit to vote without knowledge. Also, I had a naive belief that we all (both parties) wanted to get to the same place, we just had different ideas on how to get there.

All that changed with the emergence of Trump. The more he talked, the more hatefulness and divisiveness came out. And the more people who followed him and cheered when he spoke his vile words, I saw my idealism slip away. The America they wanted was not the same America I wanted. In the years since, he and his cult have proven to be dangerous to democracy, but also to women, people of color, LGBQ+, etc.

Many may not like or agree with my comments, but for people like me who are young in our political awakening (even as I near retirement!), these types of books are very informative and important. Knowledge is always the foundation of change.

I did struggle with a rating. I’ve seen interviews, and read other shorter works, and really admire the author. I enjoyed having her narrate the audio version. But it is dry material, so hard for me to rate.

[Peggy Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. History for The Choir (and I am a proud member of that choir). I fear that Richardson’s partisanship, which I share, is diluting her skill as a historian. She aptly describes the two competing forces in American history and society. One is the belief in the equality of all and the role of the people’s government in promoting that equality. The other is the belief in individual self-sufficiency and responsibility and the danger of government overreach. Richardson is a passionate advocate for the first belief, and her demonization if the other side does her no credit.

I fully agree with her that we are in perilous times, and democracy is very much in danger in the United States. So, yes, let’s win this war to preserve our democracy. Then let’s return to a more nuanced exploration of what got us here and how to move forward.

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Update after finishing: It didn't get any better. Did not expect, and did not need, the final third to be a rapid repeat of a high school US history course. Conclusion is a bunch of ra-ra for a simplistic ideal of the state-based social safety net ala FDR's New Deal or LBJ's "Great Society" in which Biden is the present-day hero.

Democracy awakening? This pro-democracy advocate was ready to snooze through most of this book.
----

First review, mid-way through:
Really struggling to finish this; it all feels rushed and shallow, and comes off as slanted. It's not that any one thing that Cox Richardson says is necessarily factually incorrect. It's more the taking of vast swaths of history and pushing them through a narrow lens set by our current political moment and a specific partisan framing; there's little talk of the cultural or economic forces that shape much of the political events she discusses.

Cox Richardson may be a practicing historian. But if news is indeed the first rough draft of history, as the saying goes, it doesn't seem to me that she ever moves on to the second draft.

[Kaora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love her well researched, thorough, thought provoking and easy to digest historical lessons.

This book is largely a history of politics in the US and how our political system evolved from being entirely run by the rich white "elite", to a system mostly run by the rich white "elite".

It brings to mind Winston Churchill,
“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This audiobook is a good listening experience but at times I wished for a paper copy to underline and make notes. HCR is an excellent historian who knows how to teach. She explains the long history from which our current divisions have grown and points out, time after time, that those of us who believe in and want democracy need to stay awake and keep fighting those who want to weaken or destroy it.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been following Heather Cox Richardson on social media for a while (3-4 years?) now, and I've had her book How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America on my TBR for just about as long. I only read this one first because it was available free on audio first. But now I'm likely going to have to spend an Audible credit on her previous book because this was excellent and I want more.

I really enjoy her summaries of key issues and the historical context relevant to them, and I honestly don't know how she has enough time in the day to put out the volume of work that she does. Daily posts/letters about current events that is hard to keep up with just in general, livestream Q&As with followers/fans, and two books in the short ~4 years I've been following her (not even counting her previous work)... PLUS getting married (congrats!) is a LOT. Maybe she doesn't need sleep.

Anyway, as I was saying, I appreciate her contextualizing a lot of the current events that we've been living through. She brings that energy and expertise to her book as well. I will say that I struggled just a bit with her book, in the beginning especially, because she brings SO much context and historical backstory and relevant detail that she kinda jumps around a lot at first. It took me a while to get used to this and track it. But, honestly, it wasn't really a big deal to do so. It's hard to outline books like this with all of the relevant context without jumping around, but also in a way that keeps the reader's attention. More important is that it was very well researched and presented from a historical narrative.

Several of the more negative reviews that I've seen of this book mention its "bias". Which is really interesting, because what that implies is that documenting the state and history of this American experiment in democracy, along with previous challenges to it, from a perspective that is in favor of preserving it, is NEGATIVELY biased. (Either that or those people haven't actually read the book and made it halfway into the first word of the title before deciding it was "biased". Or maybe both. Or maybe they saw a picture of Biden holding it and assumed the worst. Could be any of those.)

I mean, I guess you COULD say that she's biased toward upholding democracy and the ideals put forth in the Constitution, and I guess if you think that's a BAD thing, I would maybe question why that is.

Anyway, I highly recommend it!