What to read before the storm

Plus, how Thanksgiving explains our broken electoral system

This week I’ll be giving thanks for the rule of law, free and fair elections, fundamental rights, and the Constitution, all of which we still have — and still cannot take for granted. (Really though, I’ll be thinking mostly of stuffing.) 

So here early this week, not with a briefing, but with a reading list.

You might be asking: What should I be doing for democracy right now? (Besides scrolling Bluesky, obviously — follow us here). I don’t think there’s a single right answer, whether you tune in or tune out. Whatever is going to keep you engaged and in the fight for the next four years. 

Here’s one suggestion. As chaotic as things feel now, I can promise it’s going to feel more so after January. This may be a good time to pay less attention to the information firehose and more to the big picture. 

In that spirit, here’s some suggested reading from some of our team at Protect Democracy. Our “staff picks,” if you will. This list is very far from exhaustive; you’ll notice most of the usual suspects aren’t on here. My guess is you’ve already read a lot of those. (If you do want to start with the obvious must-reads — How Democracies Die and Strongmen and On Tyranny and so on — our list of advisors is a good place to start.) 

Instead, these are lesser-known books that indirectly reflect on the moment, put current events in context, or help provide grounding and wisdom for this next chapter in history, whatever it brings. 

A reading list to protect democracy

Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision, by Barbara Ransby. An indispensable behind-the-scenes leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Baker is a strong candidate for “most important historical figure you didn’t read about in school.” While studying her life and work is essential to understanding our past, it also carries lessons for this moment. Baker was deeply critical of charismatic leadership, hierarchical movements, and professional activists who would claim to speak for those without political power. In a moment of disconnect between many voters and those leaders who would claim to speak for them, it’s worth learning from (and heeding) Baker’s wisdom. -Kristy Parker

Hitler’s First Hundred Days: When Germans Embraced the Third Reich, by Peter Fritzsche. A detailed and riveting account of the millions of Germans who came to embrace National Socialism in 1933 — and the conceited elites who played and lost a very dangerous game. This book offers a sobering look at just how quickly things can slip from unimaginable to unassailable with alarmingly familiar echoes. -Anna Dorman

The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia, by Ursula K. Le Guin. This work of science fiction contemplates two starkly contrasting societies that haven't had meaningful contact in centuries, but must continue to rely on each other for resources. Disparate histories, environments, governments, and ideologies have shaped them into radically different realities. As our nation wrestles with competing values of how our world should be, Le Guin’s 50 year old masterpiece offers perspective on how to reconcile the seemingly irreconcilable. -Quinn Raymond

Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation, by Brenda Wineapple. The Scopes “monkey” trial is often remembered as a historical curiosity, an artifact of a different era. In Wineapple's history, it's revealed instead as a moment when many of the swirling forces and conflicts that are America — popular democracy, faith, civil liberties, racism, freedom of worship, demagoguery, media frenzy, intolerance, free expression, scientific advancement, and commitment to (and controversy over) the truth — came together in stark relief. The trial ended; the conflicts did not. -Edison Forman

Democracy More or Less: America’s Political Reform Quandary, by Bruce E. Cain. If you prefer to believe the path to fixing American democracy is straightforward, maybe don’t read this book. Cain brings the skeptical eye of a political scientist to recent political reform efforts and grapples with the tradeoffs, contradictions, and limitations of “perfecting” democracy. In a conclusion that seems to presage Trump’s first election two years later, he emphasizes the importance of pluralism as a reform goal and cautions against seeing democracy as simply an expression of some coherent, popular will. -Ben Raderstorf

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi. A graphic novel based on the author’s life growing up before, during, and after the Iranian Revolution. It paints a memorable portrait of how countries can backslide into extremism and the effect that has on individuals — and the different ways in which people try to push back. I think about Persepolis (and other novels, from Wicked to Handmaid’s Tale) on a daily basis when trying to understand and explain the present moment and history. -Sara Chimene-Weiss

The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861, by David M. Potter. Written almost half a century ago, this Pulitzer Prize-winning history remains the authoritative account of the sequence leading up to the Civil War. It’s a gripping and lifelike portrait of the most polarized, tense, and politically fraught moment in American history. For people living through what may just be the second-most polarized moment, these are events worth studying. -Ian Bassin 

The Inevitable Party: Why Attempts to Kill the Party System Fail and How they Weaken Democracy, by Seth Masket. Political parties aren’t going anywhere, no matter how hard reformers try. This book explains how various reform efforts over the years that aimed to vanquish parties as the enemies of democracy — including open primaries, campaign finance restrictions, and nonpartisan legislatures — have failed. And not just failed, these efforts to diminish parties have actually made it more difficult for us to achieve democratic accountability. This prescient book is a helpful guide as we turn our attention to how to build the democracy of tomorrow in a turbulent world. -Farbod Faraji

Sisters in Hate: American Women on the Front Lines of White Nationalism, by Seyward Darby. By examining the lives and work of three American women who believe the United States should remain a predominantly white country, this book provides critical insights into the conditions that have made the far-right’s rise possible. It is incredibly readable and challenges assumptions that readers may have about the forces driving white nationalism. -Jules Torti

Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America, by Keisha N. Blain. There are multiple books and biographies of Hamer worth recommending; this one is unique because it directly connects her life and activism to modern social movements. If you find yourself wondering what you can do to make a difference, this is the book to read. -Chris Crawford

This Bridge Called My Back, by Cherríe Moraga & Gloria Anzaldúa. This anthology of essays, poems and more centers on the experiences of women of color — personal, economic, social — in the U.S. and the world; reissued as a “living legacy” edition in 2021 to more fully honor the intersectionality of our community. A cornerstone text for those looking to learn about, connect to, and draw strength from communities who have faced a rejecting world and endured. -Paulina Montañez-Montes  

The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era, by Gary Gerstle. For some 50 years, neoliberalism was the universal policy backdrop informing the approach of both parties in Washington. Like the New Deal order before it, neoliberalism was so omnipresent that if you weren’t looking, you might not even notice it was there. Historian Gary Gerstle charts the rise of this political consensus — behind free trade, deregulation, and open markets — and its swift fall in the aftermath of the financial crisis. We’re still in the fuzzy gray area between historical orders. The challenge for all of us is to ensure that the next one is grounded in democratic principles. -Justin Florence 

Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, by James C. Scott. Why is it that authoritarian efforts to radically reshape society (such as, hypothetically, an efficiency commission run by billionaires) never seem to go well? In this political science classic, Scott explains how attempts to plan utopian schemes and force them onto diverse and complex human societies tend to spectacularly fail. It is both the ultimate indictment of large-scale social planning made possible by authoritarian force and a tribute to human liberty. -Grant Tudor

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How Thanksgiving explains what’s wrong with our electoral system

Want to understand what’s wrong with our electoral system? Think about it like a Thanksgiving meal. (Seriously.) 

Imagine that the country is hosting one big Thanksgiving dinner and we need to decide what to cook. Getting 335 million people to agree on a menu is hard, so there are two different ways we could go about it: 

• Option one: We split the country up into groups, geographically, and each one votes on one — and only one — dish. This is how we elect Congress now, it’s called “winner-take-all.” 

• Option two: We all vote on our favorite dish and then divide up the menu proportional to voters’ preferences. This is how most other democracies do things, it’s called “proportional representation.” 

Last year, we and Citizen Data decided to do a poll of the country’s favorite dishes. Here’s what we found under the two systems:  

What seems to be simple under winner-take-all — a country that is dominated by a division between places who prefer turkey and places who prefer stuffing (team stuffing all the way!) — is revealed to have much more complex, nuanced, and diverse preferences under proportional representation. 

Just as importantly, there’s real variation by state and region on what people prefer. Even on our Thanksgiving table, maybe the most unifying national ritual we have left, the United States is a lot less homogenous than one would think. 

Yes, this is a silly and reductive metaphor. But the same exact dynamic is true for our politics. Arguably, it’s a lot more true in politics. And the stakes are a heck of a lot higher. 

Read more: 

• The poll results and takeaways. 

• Mindy Finn and my op-ed in the Miami Herald on what this teaches us. 

• All our resources on proportional representation. 

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I hope you have a restful and restorative Thanksgiving. Go team stuffing. Happy reading. 

See you next week.