Now, Before It's Too Late – Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson

Historian Heather Cox Richardson's newest book is a very accessible and concise look at the current state of democracy in the United States of America. She also explains, in a well-organized chronology, the history of events, from the Colonial Era forward, that brought us to our present to this point in time.

This book could be seen as an overview of what Dr. Richardson writes in her Substack newsletter, which, on a nearly daily basis, examines in detail current affairs and politics that are the most pressing issues and events of our time. If you don't read it, you should – it is that important.

This book was a great refresher course in American history, and particularly addresses the more recent decades, particularly the years since the 1980s, that have so drastically changed the course of the America, that I, as a Baby Boomer, grew up in from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. With great clarity, she takes apart the events and policies that led to the negativity and factionalism that we are currently experiencing. 

While she is not without hope for America's future, she makes it clear that our democracy is not a sure thing, or something we can take for granted, and that our fate is in our hands.