Book Discussion

Join members to discuss books relevant to areas of our program study. Copies of books for current and past discussions may be available in the League office. Reserve a copy by contacting our operations manager, Kerry Helmer.

Interested in joining a planned book discussion, or have questions? Have a suggested title for a future discussion? Email the organizers at books@lwvdanecounty.org. Feel free to attend, even if you have not had time to read the book.

Planned Book Discussion

Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America by Heather Cox Richardson

If you prefer your historical perspective on the development and struggles of American democracy in small, digestible bites, you are ready for our next book, Heather Cox Richardson’s Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America. Richardson walks us from what she calls the first founding–the Declaration of Independence with its clear statement of equality and the compromises of the Constitution that continue to enshrine inequality–through efforts to make the Declaration a reality.

In a conversational tone the author takes us through events such as the Civil War, the New Deal, the Civil Rights Act and efforts to overthrow a growing “liberal consensus” that government exists to promote the common good and work toward equality in a multiracial society. She highlights those who stood firm to preserve and advance American democracy in the face of growing inequality and divisiveness. This is a book that can be read all at once or in snippets, but however you read it, you will want to return to it in the future.

Even if you haven’t read the entire book, you are welcome to participate. While it is hard to recommend chapters, those pressed for time are encouraged to read the Foreword and the Conclusion, “Reclaiming Our Country.”

Tuesday, May 14, 10 - 11:30 a.m. via Zoom
Saturday, May 18, 10 - 11:30 a.m. via Zoom

Contact the organizers at books@lwvdanecounty.org with your preferred time. The Zoom link and discussion questions will be emailed prior to the discussion. Feel free to attend, even if you have not had time to read the book.

Past Book Discussions

Cover of the book Tyranny of the Minority

Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point
by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt

From the New York Times bestselling authors of How Democracies Die, this book is a call to reform our antiquated political institutions that give unfair advantage to those in the minority. Levitsky and Ziblatt argue that the move toward a multiracial democracy in the United States has sparked an authoritarian backlash that threatens the foundations of our political system. The authors explain why and how political parties turn against democracy, and suggest common-sense, though difficult to achieve, changes to our Constitution to prevent partisan minorities from ruling over popular majorities in our country.

How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion
by David McRaney

In our current polarized environment, conversations among people who do not agree can be challenging and disheartening. How Minds Change explores the elements of human belief and why facts and logical arguments are not the pillars of persuasion that we hope them to be. Listening, it turns out, is a key element. This is the 2023 Go Big Read book.

Poverty, by America
Matthew Desmond

“The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Evicted reimagines the debate on poverty, making a ‘provocative and compelling’ (NPR) argument about why it persists in America: because the rest of us benefit from it.”

Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life
by Eric Klinenberg

It’s not enough to build physical infrastructure, Klinenberg asserts; we have to build life- and society-sustaining neighborhoods. What does that look like? How can we build infrastructure that bridges, rather than widens our gaping social divisions?

Although—or perhaps especially because—it was written before COVID and its disruptions, thinking about social infrastructure has the power to help us understand why our emergence from isolation seems so de-centering, why society appears to be even more shattered and polarized than ever. We can see how decisions about how we develop our neighborhoods will shape our future. “Before we lift the next shovel,” the author says, “we should know what we want to improve, what we need to protect, and, more importantly, what kind of society we want to create.”

Cover of the book Dark Money by Jane Mayer (Seal: One of the NYT Best Books of the Year)

Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
by Jane Mayer

Drawing from hundreds of interviews and extensive research, Jane Mayer provides vivid portraits of the secretive and deep-pocketed figures crafting an American government that serves their interests and ideology. Dark Money has been hailed as an essential read for those concerned about the direction of American democracy.

Cover of book: On the Line by Daisy Pitkin. Subtitle: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and two women's epic fight to build a union

On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women’s Epic Fight to Build a Union
by Daisy Pitkin

This memoir was a Wisconsin Book Festival book. The author is a young labor organizer who is learning the ropes on the fly; the second woman is the commercial laundry worker who risks her health going to work and her job for helping organize. Needless to say, one has a bigger stake in the process than the other, but the women–so far as I have gotten–manage to maintain a relationship. How will it end? I don’t know yet. But it is worth finding out.

—Louise Robbins

The Night Watchman
by Louise Erdrich

In her Pulitzer Prize winning historical novel, Louise Erdrich draws on the life of her grandfather, a night watchman and tribal chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, as he led the fight against termination of tribal status and sovereignty for his and ultimately all other tribes.

The fight against termination is interwoven with the story of Patrice, his niece, who works at the first manufacturing plant near the reservation, supporting her mother and brother. She goes in search of her missing sister, and uncovers the exploitation suffered by Native women.

As we learn about the displacement of Native nations in Wisconsin, this North Dakota story introduces us to resourceful, resilient characters while it sheds light on the struggle of the Ojibwe (Chippewa) to retain their homelands, their sovereignty and their culture.

Cover of the book. Red and blue varied type styles on beige background.

Thank You for Voting: the Maddening, Enlightening, Inspiring Truth About Voting in America
by Erin Geiger Smith

This nonpartisan book provides the fundamentals about the history of who could and could not vote, ways to encourage voting, the Electoral College, and gerrymandering. It also includes a basic, but helpful, section on evaluating sources of information.

This book is available through Madison Public Library and through LINKcat.

Cover of the book. Black with a pair of handcuffs in blue.

Policing the Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood
by Michele Goodwin

This book examines reproductive policy from a human and civil rights perspective. Professor Michele Goodwin responded to the SCOTUS decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which struck down a woman's right to have an abortion, with an opinion piece in The New York Times: No, Justice Alito, Reproductive Justice Is in the Constitution. Just before the Court heard Dobbs, The New York Times published Goodwin's personal account of having an abortion at age 12: I Was Raped by My Father. An Abortion Saved My Life.

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country in the World
by Sarah Smarsh

This memoir of a woman born in 1980 to a poor farming family near Wichita, Kansas, asks us to consider issues of class from a different perspective than we have in earlier books we have discussed. It gives us insight into why the question of where someone is from might be important in ways we have not considered. It is another flash of color in the kaleidoscope of issues we have been learning about. Sarah Smarsh writes about her life, but about ours, too.

Cover of the book, shows yellow Playtex gloves

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive
by Stephanie Land

This New York Times bestseller was published in 2019 and inspired the limited series Maid on Netflix. The book has a foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich, whose own book (2001), Nickel and Dimed, investigated the impact of welfare reform on the working poor a generation ago. Maid’s theme is consistent with our social equity program focus. It is available through Madison Public Library (Linkcat).

12 Ways to Save Democracy in Wisconsin
by Matthew Rothschild

The book’s author is Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign; he worked at The Progressive for more than thirty years, mostly as Editor and Publisher. Rothschild was our Lively Issues speaker in 2022 (watch video).

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
by Clint Smith

Smith is a poet, author, educator and staff writer at The Atlantic. He hosts Crash Course: Black American History, in 50 episodes of 10–15 minutes on You Tube. A little more than half the episodes are available now, with more added each week.

Some conversations with Clint Smith about this book: NPR's Mary Louise Kelly and MSNBC's Chris Hayes.

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants
by Robin Wall Kimmerer

The book is quite long. The discussion focused on about 135 pages, outlined here.

The author, a botanist and Citizen Band Potawatomi describes the book as “an invitation to celebrate the gifts of the earth.” The Potawatomi are a part of the Anishinaabe people who make up the greatest number of tribes in Wisconsin. This book will provide a better understanding of the Anishinaabe people as well as a better understanding and appreciation for what it means to care for the environment. Kimmerer was recently named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Robin Wall Kimmerer was featured in a segment of WPR's program To the Best of Our Knowledge that was rebroadcast recently. You can get a flavor of the personhood of nature as she shows Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson around her land in New York on a 2019 visit.

The Sum of Us
by Heather McGhee

McGhee tells us “what racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together” and move forward.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
by Richard Rothstein

The Color of Law is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand how and why our cities became segregated and remain so despite intentional efforts to integrate them. Rothstein explodes the myth of “de facto segregation,” or private acts of discrimination being the cause of housing segregation. Instead, he traces the long history of “de jure segregation” — of intentional action by governments at all levels to keep the races separate and to confer favor on white Americans while explicitly excluding Black Americans from housing-related opportunities.

Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America
by Kathleen Belew

The book reports paramilitary activities from the 70s and 80s; however, it provides insights into recent occurrences and explains the perspective of the “radical right.”