cover image American Democracy: 21 Historic Answers to 5 Urgent Questions

American Democracy: 21 Historic Answers to 5 Urgent Questions

Edited by Nicholas Lemann. Library of America, $21.95 (300p) ISBN 978-1-59853-662-1

“Nearly all the essential aspects of our democracy have been in dispute from the very beginning,” writes journalist Lemann (Transaction Man) in this edifying survey of American political history. Seeking insights on the topics of citizenship, equality, the purpose of government, the influence of money on politics, and the efficacy of protest, Lemann collects writings from a diverse array of lawmakers, activists, judges, founding fathers, philosophers, and presidents. The section on citizenship, for example, includes George Washington’s 1790 letter to a Jewish congregation in Newport, R.I.; an excerpt from Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?”; suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s last public speech; Senator Henry Cabot Lodge’s 1896 call for immigration restrictions; and progressive writer Randolph S. Bourne’s WWI-era argument for a multicultural America. Lemann draws incisive links to present-day debates and provides useful historical context in introductions to each section, though readers may wish for editorial notes in the selections themselves (explaining, for instance, the work of immigration rights activist Mary Antin, whom Bourne references in his essay). Still, this illuminating and well-conceived anthology offers essential insights into how debates over the nature and practice of American democracy have evolved. (Oct.)