Give US the Ballot
The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America
Picador · Print & ebook · August 2, 2016
A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, Nonfiction Named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review and The Washington Post Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, The Boston Globe, and Kirkus Reviews (Best Nonfiction) Countless books have been written about the civil rights movement, but far less attention has been paid to what happened after the dramatic passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and the turbulent forces it unleashed.
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- Who it’s for
- A reported history traces how voting rights reshaped democracy—and why the fight continues.
- Themes
- Voting rights and democracy, Race and representation, Political power
- Genres
- Civil Rights, Elections & Campaigns
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A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, Nonfiction Named a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review and The Washington Post Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, The Boston Globe, and Kirkus Reviews (Best Nonfiction) Countless books have been written about the civil rights movement, but far less attention has been paid to what happened after the dramatic passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and the turbulent forces it unleashed.
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In this groundbreaking narrative history, Ari Berman charts both the transformation of American democracy under the VRA and the counterrevolution that has sought to limit it from the moment the act was signed into law. The VRA is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement, and yet—more than fifty years later—the battles over race, representation, and political power continue, as lawmakers devise new strategies to keep minorities out of the voting booth, while the Supreme Court has declared a key part of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. Through meticulous research, in-depth interviews, and incisive on-the-ground reporting, Give Us the Ballot offers the first comprehensive history of its kind, and provides new insight into one of the most vital political and civil rights issues of our time.
After the Act
A reported history traces how voting rights reshaped democracy—and why the fight continues.
Come here for
- The tension between landmark legislation and lasting political change
- Race, representation, and power in American democracy
Expect
- A narrative history grounded in research, interviews, and reporting
- A close look at the struggle over voting rights
Where it sits
| Civil Rights | 70% |
|---|---|
| Elections & Campaigns | 47% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- 20th-Century America
- Civil Rights
- Elections & Campaigns
- Authors
- Ari Berman
- Publisher
- Picador
- Published
- August 2, 2016
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Voting rights and democracy · Race and representation · Political power
- Reading lane
- 20th-Century America