Historian Heather Cox Richardson (How the South Won the Civil War) dedicates Democracy Awakening to those who have joined her in "exploring the complex relationship between history, humanity, and modern politics"--a description that perfectly encapsulates not just those who may have inspired the book but also the book itself. The author of the popular newsletter Letters from an American offers an eye-opening history and her thoughts on the current state of U.S. democracy and asks: "Is the fall of democracy in the United States inevitable? And if not, how can we reclaim our democratic principles?"
Richardson doesn't quite answer this question in Democracy Awakening, instead providing much-needed historical and modern context for the question itself. She traces the historical roots of today's challenges to the democratic process, including deep analysis of the United States' framing documents (flawed though they may be), as well as the parallels between recent U.S. history and the rise of authoritarianism seen elsewhere through history and around the world. Even if the individual facts here may not surprise those who have spent time studying the relatively short history of the U.S., seeing these threads in one place brings the current political crisis into sharp relief in ways those familiar with Richardson's work will recognize. "But the true history of American democracy is that it is never finished," she writes, acknowledging that while this moment is a time of "testing," it is not yet a failed test. Blending history and modern politics, outrage and glimmers of hope, Democracy Awakening is required reading for anyone wondering how, exactly, U.S. politics have come to this--and what may come next. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer