Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 07/01/2024 *Starred Review* Fans of Dyson and Favreau's Unequal (2022) will welcome this, which focuses on the complicated history of voting in the U.S. The prologue immediately debunks the notion that the Constitution is a blueprint for democracy as the authors explain how the original framers did not actually give Americans the right to vote. In a direct style with riveting, often overlooked details, they trace the long and even violent fight for women’s, Black, Latinx, Asian American, and Native American suffrage. The authors place these fights in the context of historical events and carefully note intersections of repressed groups, such as Mexican Americans in the Southwest who endured a “Juan Crow” system similar to African Americans in the South, as well as racism within the women’s suffrage movement that promoted voting only for white women. Many chapters also focus on voting rights through the lens of potentially lesser-known but influential activists, including Robert Smalls, who cleverly escaped slavery and became a U.S. congressman during Reconstruction, and Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, a doubly excluded Chinese American activist who campaigned for women’s rights. Proving that democracy is an ongoing battle, the final section spotlights recent attempts to obstruct voting, like gerrymandering, dark money, and January 6. Voting reform ideas, voting resources, and copious source notes round out this eye-opening narrative. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.