Give Us the Ballot, Ari Berman
Give Us the Ballot, Ari Berman
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Give Us the Ballot
The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America

Author: Ari Berman

Narrator: Tom Zingarelli

Unabridged: 12 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/04/2015


Synopsis

The adoption of the landmark Voting Rights Act in 1965 enfranchised millions of Americans and is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement. And yet fifty years later we are still fighting heated battles over race, representation, and political power—over the right to vote, the central pillar of our democracy.

A groundbreaking narrative history of voting rights since 1965, Give Us the Ballot tells the story of what happened after the act was passed. Through meticulous archival research, fresh interviews with the leading participants in the ongoing struggle, and incisive on-the-ground reporting, Ari Berman chronicles the transformative impact the act had on American democracy and investigates how the fight over the right to vote has continued in the decades since. From new strategies to keep minorities out of the voting booth, to cynical efforts to limit political representation by gerrymandering electoral districts, to the Supreme Court's recent stunning decision that declared a key part of the Voting Rights Act itself unconstitutional, Berman tells the dramatic story of the pitched contest over the very heart of our democracy. At this important historical moment, Give Us the Ballot brings new insight to one of the most vital political and civil rights issues of our time.

About Ari Berman

Ari Berman is the national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones and a reporting fellow at Type Media Center. He's the author of Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America (finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction) and Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics. His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Rolling Stone, and he is a frequent commentator on MSNBC and NPR. He's won the Sidney Hillman Foundation Prize for Magazine Journalism and an Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media. He lives in New Paltz, New York.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sloan

An excellent description of the history of the Voting Rights Act and the profound threats facing the rights for all eligible citizens to vote. While it can be a depressing read, especially if the reader lived through the civil and voting rights battles of the 1960s, this is a book that demands readi......more

Goodreads review by Kayle

Should be mandatory reading for everyone in advance of voting this election cycle. Key takeaway: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EARLY VOTING!......more

Goodreads review by Scott

Our Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, realizing that true democracy was both unrealistic and unworkable, chose as the model of our government a republic, whereby power resides in elected representatives given authority by the citizenry that elected them. Under this model of government, the most vit......more