Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America

Excellent overview, compelling connections and argument, easy reading (at least in terms of the writing style, if not the content often). Classic Heather Cox Richardson, one of my favorites. It's a bit of a summary story of US History, with an eye to issues (& the vulnerabilities) of democracy. Who gets to rule? Can this nation really give equal voice to all? Most of the material here was review for me, but I always appreciate books like this.

I read Richardson's newsletter first thing every morning and I consider her the most consistent and reliable source of political information available. This book is also an important read.

This was a brilliant read that left me nodding and mmmhmming frequently. If you like history, and if you like being given the tools to apply history to everything that is happening in politics today, this is for you. I'm a lover of footnotes and research, and Richardson has a way of making sense of a puzzle so the rest of us can see the bigger picture. I've shared this with other friends and family who have wanted to understand the why in things — and I've always been one to try and express that you have to see and understand what happened before. Richardson has a way of explaining things in a way that even the non-legal/historian scholar will understand.

This does a great job explaining more than just what happened in the last 5 years but dives into the why, the history. Spoiler: this is more than a rant about Trump.