Free standard shipping on all orders
  • Visa
  • Master Card
  • American Express
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay
  • JCB

The Challenge of American Democracy: A History Through Sources book cover

1st Edition

The Challenge of American Democracy A History Through Sources

Edited By Kyle G. Volk, Claire Rydell Arcenas Copyright 2027
266 Pages
by Routledge

266 Pages
by Routledge

The Challenge of American Democracy presents a selection of edited primary source documents, discussion questions, and an interpretive framework to analyze and understand American democracy from the Revolution to the twenty-first century.   Organized chronologically across three historical periods, the sourcebook uses a broad range of texts—including speeches, court decisions, petitions,... Read more

Introduction. Section I: The Formative Era of American Democracy (1776-1865). 1. Revolution & the Republics. 2. Constitution & Citizen. 3. White Man's Democracy & Its Discontents. 4. The Problem of Slavery & Union. Section II: Reconstructing Democracy in Modernizing America (1865-1945). 5. Reconstruction Democracy & The Challenge of Citizenship. 6. Wealth & Power in Industrial America. 7. Modern State & Modern Liberty. 8. Democracy Under Siege; or, A Democracy, If You Can Keep It. Section III: Challenges of the American Century (1945-2000). 9. Cold War Consensus & Conflict. 10. The Politics of Protest. 11. Democracy Polarizing. 12. Beyond the Cold War. Appendix: The Constitution of the United States (1787).

Biography

Kyle G. Volk is Professor of History and co-director of the Democracy Studies Program at the University of Montana, USA. His teaching and scholarship focus on the political, legal, and intellectual history of the United States. He is author of the award-winning book, Moral Minorities and the Making of American Democracy (2014).

 

Claire Rydell Arcenas is Associate Professor of History at the University of Montana, USA. Her teaching and scholarship focus on the political and intellectual history of the United States. She is author of the award-winning book, America’s Philosopher: John Locke in American Intellectual Life (2022).

“This is the collection we’ve been waiting for! Volk and Arcenas’s sourcebook explores how Americans have argued over the meaning and practices of American democracy since the Founding era. The readings both reflect diverse perspectives and introduce students to a shared tradition. By including space for students to write within the book, students are encouraged to become participants in a longstanding conversation over what American democracy was, is, and might be.”

Johann Neem, author of Democracy’s Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America

 

“In this beautifully curated volume, the drama and dilemmas of the American project are no abstraction. Instead—in speeches and Supreme Court cases, personal letters and poetry—they leap right off the page. Designed for today’s classrooms and never more necessary, this book is a vital guide to the ongoing experiment that is U.S. democracy.”

Sarah E. Igo, author of The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America

Add to Cart