A concise, readable account of the struggle for equality, freedom, and democracy in the U.S.
An explanation of how Americans have fought for a precious right, one that’s central to democracy—and how it’s still threatened today.
Although the struggle for representation lies at the heart of U.S. history, Dyson and Favreau persuasively argue that the Founding Fathers abhorred the “people power” of true democracy, preferring the power of money and chattel slavery. States overwhelmingly restricted the voting rights of women, those who didn’t own property, Native Americans, free Black people, and, later, those of Chinese descent. But the roughly two-thirds of the population who were disenfranchised continually fought for the vote, and their stories vividly unfold in three parts: “Promises,” “Awakening,” and “Two Roads.” These sections cover 19th-century efforts to expand access to the ballot as the population grew and the electorate shrank “under the pressure of mob violence and discriminatory laws”; 20th-century battles, for example, for women’s and Native American suffrage and equal access for Black voters; and finally, present-day obstacles, including the gutting of the Voting Rights Act and the impact of disinformation spread by dark-money groups. Nevertheless, the authors stress the positives in their clear, well-paced account, showing the courage, persistence, and sacrifices of those who have advanced and exercised voting rights and introducing readers to a diverse range of activists they should know about. This lively, accessible, and inspiring history deserves a wide readership.
A concise, readable account of the struggle for equality, freedom, and democracy in the U.S. (authors’ note, ideas for taking action, timeline, further reading, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780759557062
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Conversational, sometimes playful—not the sort of book that would survive vetting by school-system censors these days, but a...
A lovely, lively historical survey that takes in Neanderthals, Hohenzollerns and just about everything in between.
In 1935, Viennese publisher Walter Neurath approached Gombrich, who would go on to write the canonical, bestselling Story of Art, to translate a history textbook for young readers. Gombrich volunteered that he could do better than the authors, and Neurath accepted the challenge, provided that a completed manuscript was on his desk in six weeks. This book, available in English for the first time, is the happy result. Gombrich is an engaging narrator whose explanations are charming if sometimes vague. (Take the kid-friendly definition of truffles: “Truffles,” he says, “are a very rare and special sort of mushroom.” End of lesson.) Among the subjects covered are Julius Caesar (who, Gombrich exults, was able to dictate two letters simultaneously without getting confused), Charlemagne, the American Civil War, Karl Marx, the Paris Commune and Kaiser Wilhelm. As he does, he offers mostly gentle but pointed moralizing about the past, observing, for instance, that the Spanish conquest of Mexico required courage and cunning but was “so appalling, and so shaming to us Europeans that I would rather not say anything more about it,” and urging his young readers to consider that perhaps not all factory owners were as vile as Marx portrayed them to be, even though the good owners “against their conscience and their natural instincts, often found themselves treating their workers in the same way”—which is to say, badly.
Conversational, sometimes playful—not the sort of book that would survive vetting by school-system censors these days, but a fine conception and summarizing of the world’s checkered past for young and old.Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2005
ISBN: 0-300-10883-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2005
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
