25 American Revolutions

Dear friends and readers,

A small break in the news cycle for hope and optimism!

My new book, AMERICA IN 25 REVOLUTIONS, is out in just a month—timed to mark both the country’s 250th birthday and also the midterm elections.

Today, I wanted to share a bit about the book’s goal, why it matters right now, and a special fun gift, below.

The book tells 25 stories of moments when America got “better,” more just, more equal, and closer to the Founders’ never-realized ideal of a nation where all are created equal, moments from across our 250-year history when the circle of who counted as “American” was erased and made larger. Some of these stories will be familiar to readers (Reconstruction, women’s suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement, gay marriage); others you might recognize but not realize how “revolutionary” they were (the Americans with Disabilities Act is actually the most far-reaching civil rights legislation the US has ever passed); but many will be likely new to you, like photographer Lewis Hine’s crusade to end child labor in the early 1900s or the three chapters focused on the re-assertion of Native rights.

One of my main goals with this book is to reconceptualize our collective thinking of the “Founding.” America is the story of revolutions, plural. We have always been an imperfect country, but one that aspired to be better. We are still founding and making this country today. Our country has had dark chapters before—sometimes long dark chapters—and progress is never linear or uninterrupted. But the great gift of the capital-F Founders from 1776 and 1787 is they bequeathed a vision and a process for future generations to improve the country we call home.

Most of all, I hope you will take away from the book the idea that who counts as a “Founder” should be much larger than just the 56 white men who signed the Declaration or the 39 white men who signed the Constitution.

As I write in the book’s introduction:

“Not all of the history that follows is easy to read—nor will all of the names be familiar. But to me one of the great joys of studying US history is understanding its nuances and zigzags, and tuning into voices we’ve forgotten about. The figures who star in these revolutions—people like Sarah Winnemucca, Lewis Hine, Alice Paul, Rachel Carson, Thurgood Marshall, Patsy Mink, Frank Kameny, Justin Dart Jr., and Mary Bonauto—are each Founders in their own way. They took the vision of 1776 and made it their own. Some pursued a cause for years or decades with single-minded focus; others found themselves in the right place at the right moment to challenge history. Many never lived to see the fruits of the movements they helped start. They are all stories worth remembering alongside all the names we are taught in school. Writing new people into the American storyline takes nothing away from those whose places in history have already been told and secured. The American story is big enough to encompass all of us.”

To me, one of the greatest shames of our modern moment is the literal whitewashing of our history—the idea that by lifting up the stories of women, minorities, and people of color, we are somehow “stealing” from the rightful place in history of the white men whose stories have long dominated our history.

We need to think more broadly about our country and our history. The American story is big enough to encompass all of us.

Which brings me to the special gift:

As longtime readers may know, I always try to offer something fun and memorable for those who preorder my books and support independent bookstores.

To help expand our vision of our own history, I commissioned Matt Wuerker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist for POLITICO, to draw original portraits of eight of the modern “Founders” I feature across the book’s 25 stories: Civil rights pioneer Frederick Douglass, suffragists Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman Catt, Native rights champion Zitkala Ša, equal rights fighters Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, environmental activist Rachel Carson, gay rights crusader Frank Kameny, and the force behind the American with Disabilities Act, Justin Dart, Jr.

Back in my days at POLITICO, I sat right behind Matt and watching him work all day is one of my fondest memories of that time. You’ll almost surely recognize his artwork, even if you don’t know his name. Each “Founder” is drawn in his inimitable style—a style familiar to anyone who has ever sat at the Off the Record Bar in the Hay-Adams, where a rotating set of Matt’s caricatures decorate its coasters. I’ve always loved those coasters and figured these eight Founders were overdue for their own.

Anyone who preorders the book through my local independent bookstore, Phoenix Books, in Burlington, will receive a signed/inscribed copy, as well as a complete set of all eight “Founder” bar coasters, printed right here in Tennessee through a Vermont-based business. It’s a great way to celebrate just how fun American history can be, all while supporting independent bookstores.

I’m super excited for this book to be out in the world — it’s a project that I hope will inspire readers to pick up the hard work of generations past and carry forward, newly recommitted to building an America that wasn’t “great” in the past, but can be better in the future.

What could be better than a dash of hope right now?

GMG