Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America

Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America is a 2023 popular history book by Dr. Heather Cox Richardson. Democracy Awakening approaches historical movements in a non-linear fashion to contextualize larger trends in the evolution—and devolution—of American democracy. Richardson uses an accessible and straightforward tone in Democracy Awakening, which explores how rhetoric and policy have operated through American history from the American Revolution through the 2020s for dual purposes: the gradual trend toward authoritarianism and the persistent push toward democracy. She discusses how women and racialized peoples have led the push toward democracy for centuries, as well as how a primarily white, wealthy elite have used rhetoric and false history to move the country toward authoritarianism.

This guide refers to the 2023 Viking Penguin Random House e-book edition.

Content Warnings: The guide and source text discuss hate speech, racism, enslavement, racial and gender prejudice, genocide and displacement of Indigenous Americans, anti-Black violence, and systemic inequalities through American history. To refer to the collective of Americans who are not of European descent, Richardson uses the phrase “people of color,” which this guide preserves. Both the guide and the source text are specific about race and ethnicity where applicable.