The seminal account of the long and ongoing struggle to win voting rights for all citizens—now newly revised to address today’s fights over voting.
As the late John Lewis said, the struggle for the right to vote is not over. In this “important and powerful” (Linda Greenhouse, former New York Times Supreme Court correspondent) book, Michael Waldman describes the long struggle to extend the right to vote to all Americans. Since the writing of the constitution, disenfranchised Americans have sought this right—and others have fought to stop them.
Waldman traces this history from the Founders’ debates to today’s many restrictions: gerrymandering; voter ID laws; the flood of dark money released by conservative organizations; and the concerted effort in many state legislatures after the 2020 election to enact new limitations on voting
As Waldman shows, this fight has always been at the center of American politics because it determines the outcome of the struggle for power. The Fight to Vote is “an engaging, concise history . . . offering many useful reforms that advocates on both sides of the aisle should consider” (The Wall Street Journal).