We’ve Been Here Before: How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America

Journalists Days (Obama’s Legacy) and Dodson (We Refuse to Be Silent) provide a concise overview of the grassroots movements that have shaped American history and expanded the country’s conception of freedom. The movements covered range from Indigenous Americans’ resistance against colonization to the contemporary fight against climate change, with special emphasis on visionary radicals like John Brown and the ways that past movement wins affect the present, such as the early-20th-century labor movement’s indelible impact on daily life. Along the way, Days and Dodson ruminate on the long, arduous process of creating lasting change; they note, in particular, how quickly wins of the civil rights and feminist movements have been unraveled by the Trump administration. The book covers an impressive amount of ground at a brisk pace, making it a useful reminder of, or introduction to, pivotal moments in U.S. history. However, there’s no guiding narrative to pull these stories together other than a somewhat vague “hope that enlightenment will eventually prevail” and “pray[ers] that the three equal branches of government will preserve our system of checks and balances.” Such meager hopes and prayers blunt the impact of the hard-fought wins cataloged throughout. (June)