The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States, by Alexander Keyssar (HC, 2000, 467 pages, $3.50) SOLD
Keyssar's account "highlights the gap between the hallowed image of the US as THE democratic nation and the reality that it took nearly two centuries for universal suffrage to be achieved. The story that he presents is one of both progress toward democratization and of fierce resistance to any expansion of the franchise. It includes lively accounts of those who "won" the right to vote, including women, African Americans, immigrants and industrial workers, while also describing recurrent- and sometimes successful- efforts to bar millions of individuals from the polls."
This book surely puts things into the proper perspective. It is not the same story we first learned in school. Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 12/7.
