Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America

Heather Cox Richardson is a history professor currently at Boston University who has penned a number of American history books like _To Make Men Free_ (2014) and _How the South Won the Civil War_ (2020). Her latest book, _Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America_ (2023) is both well-researched and crisply written. Not to keep you in suspense, Ms. Richardson favors Democracy, liberalism, plurality, and social unity. She takes a dim view of conservatism, racism, and various experiments of authoritarian government. Richardson does believe that Democracies can prevail, but that it is by no means a sure thing: "Democracies die more often at the ballot box than at gunpoint" (xi). Richardson's book is divided into three main parts: "Undermining Democracy" (on relatively early attempts at Authoritarian government by Nixon and Reagan), "The Authoritarian Experiment" (on Donald Trump's Presidency), and "Reclaiming America" (on how American Democracy can be saved). Individual chapters that I found to be particularly insightful were "The Liberal Consensus," "The Reagan Revolution," " Russia, Russia, Russia," "The Streets of Charlottsville," "The Constitution," "Expanding Democracy," and "Reclaiming Our Country". Various quotes worth remembering include: "That faith [in Reaganomics] was divorced from reality, and the gap between ideology and reality would only get wider over time" (53)..."[Trump] and his allies portrayed anyone who protested as members of the deep state or as victims of 'Trump Derangement Syndrome'" (109)... "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). Like Richardson, I value Democracy. I am reminded of a quote from the television series, _Slattery's People_: "Democracy is a very _bad_ form of government. But remember this: All of the others are so much worse."

Well organized and without a lot of fat. HCR lays it out well.