Democracy Betrayed

At the close of the nineteenth century, the Democratic Party in North Carolina engineered a white supremacy revolution. Frustrated by decades of African American self-assertion and threatened by an interracial coalition advocating democratic reforms, white conservatives used violence, demagoguery, and fraud to seize political power and disenfranchise black citizens. The most notorious episode of the campaign was the Wilmington "race riot" of 1898, which claimed the lives of many black residents and rolled back decades of progress for African Americans in the state. Published on the centennial of the Wilmington race riot, Democracy Betrayed draws together the best new scholarship on the events of 1898 and their aftermath. Contributors to this important book hope to draw public attention to the tragedy, to honor its victims, and to bring a clear and timely historical voice to the debate over its legacy. The contributors are David S. Cecelski, William H. Chafe, Laura F. Edwards, Raymond Gavins, Glenda E. Gilmore, John Haley, Michael Honey, Stephen Kantrowitz, H. Leon Prather Sr., Timothy B. Tyson, LeeAnn Whites, and Richard Yarborough.

Hing Hing Ming reviews some of the major episodes of the Han Dynasty, from its founding by Liu Bang to the Lü Clan Disturbance and subsequent diplomatic overtures and military campaigns against the minor Chinese kingdoms, the Mongols, and Gojoseon (the ancient Korean Kingdom).

In Freedom Betrayed, Michael Ledeen weaves together key moments in the fall of communism with the skill of a born storyteller. His insider's knowledge of the interplay of complex personalities and Byzantine strategies makes a compelling narrative - a narrative enlivened by his wit and flair for the dramatic. He observes that just when democracy seemed everywhere triumphant - with the fall of antidemocratic regimes in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa - our leaders failed those fledgling democracies, first by misunderstanding the monumental achievement of that triumph and second by not providing the political, legal, and entrepreneurial know-how and support the new democrats so desperately needed.

Hon. Miria Matembe tells of her experience as an insider and minister in President Yoweri Museveni's government of Uganda that strips bare the ugly side of the once-revered revolutionary regime. Without fear or favour, she gives a stinging account of how the grand schemes of vulgarization of the constitution, politics of corruption, patronage and deceit are hatched and orchestrated to entrench "Musevenism" in Uganda. She unmasks President Museveni's dictatorial personality and his tactics to keep an iron handgrip on individuals and nations. Hon Matembe reveals the shocking incidences of total reluctance by the NRM government to fight corruption but instead promote it as a fuel that powers its engine. Can a government that holds onto power through corruption have the will to fight it? Hon Matembe witnessed all these unfortunate events of the making of a dictator and in this autobiography, she tells it all - as she saw it.

"[A] passionate, compelling, and disturbing argument that the ills of democracy in the United States today arise from the default of its elites." —John Gray, New York Times Book Review (front-page review) In a front-page review in the Washington Post Book World, John Judis wrote: "Political analysts have been poring over exit polls and precinct-level votes to gauge the meaning of last November's election, but they would probably better employ their time reading the late Christopher Lasch's book." And in the National Review, Robert Bork says The Revolt of the Elites "ranges provocatively [and] insightfully." Controversy has raged around Lasch's targeted attack on the elites, their loss of moral values, and their abandonment of the middle class and poor, for he sets up the media and educational institutions as a large source of the problem. In this spirited work, Lasch calls out for a return to community, schools that teach history not self-esteem, and a return to morality and even the teachings of religion. He does this in a nonpartisan manner, looking to the lessons of American history, and castigating those in power for the ever-widening gap between the economic classes, which has created a crisis in American society. The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy is riveting social commentary.

An impassioned takedown of the undemocratic features of American electoral politics and their role in the 2016 election. Americans are taught to cherish our democracy, especially our right to vote. But after the 2016 presidential election, we are confronted, yet again, with the reality that our system is neither free nor fair. Almost every step along the way is filled with intentional and unintentional pitfalls, barriers, and dysfunction. The results disadvantage, discourage, and ultimately disenfranchise, but a myth persists that our elections and democracy are exemplary. Our system is adept at pre-empting the very citizens whose participation would upend governing classes and economic elites. That’s done by making voting more complicated, less accountable and resistant to reform. Whether we’re talking about voter ID laws, superdelegates, convoluted state recount rules, or the archaic Electoral College, procedures have greater weight than democratic principles, or evidence-based determinations. Democracy Betrayed catalogs the long litany of ways our elections failed, and continue to fail, their billing as model democracy. It will look through the lens of impassioned skepticism, highlighting what went wrong and conveying why that need not be the case. More people registered to vote in 2016 than ever before, even if turnout was about the same as 2012. That shows people want a system they can believe in. This book will speak to them and show them how they can fight for a better democracy.

A vital and important look at the rise of a security state that is transforming the nature of our democracy In the aftermath of 9/11, in lockstep with booming technological advancements, a new and more authoritarian form of governance is upplanting liberal democracy. The creation of the Security Industrial Complex — an “internal security state–within–the–state” fueled by tech companies, private security firms, and the Intelligence Community to the tune of $120 billion a year — is intruding on civil liberties to an unprecedented extent. Politicians tolerate it; some citizens welcome it, thinking it may be the way to keep America safe in a time of uncertainty and terrorism. But how real is this threat, and is it worth the loss of our individual privacy? As a society, we have yet to comprehend the meaning of universal digital interconnection, its impact on our psychology, and its transformation of our government and society. America is at a crossroads in contending with a security goliath; allowing the beginnings of a police state, and the conversion of our of our “liberal democracy” to a “secure democracy”— one where government overreaches, tramples on civil liberties, and harnesses great advancements in technology to spy on the populace. Keller walks us through what these changes can mean to our society and, more importantly, what we can do to halt our march toward intrusive and widespread surveillance. An urgent wakeup call for a country in crisis, Democracy Betrayed is a timely and deeply important book about the future of America.