Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America

by Ari Berman

Overview

A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, Nonfiction

A New York Times Notable Book of 2015
A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2015
A Boston Globe Best Book of 2015
A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2015
An NPR Best Book of 2015

Countless books have been written about the civil rights movement, but far less attention has been paid to what happened after the dramatic passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1965 and the turbulent forces it unleashed. Give Us the Ballot tells this story for the first time.

In this groundbreaking narrative history, Ari Berman charts both the transformation of American democracy under the VRA and the counterrevolution that has sought to limit voting rights, from 1965 to the present day. The act enfranchised millions of Americans and is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement. And yet, fifty years later, we are still fighting heated battles over race, representation, and political power, with lawmakers devising new strategies to keep minorities out of the voting booth and with the Supreme Court declaring a key part of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional.

Berman brings the struggle over voting rights to life through meticulous archival research, in-depth interviews with major figures in the debate, and incisive on-the-ground reporting. In vivid prose, he takes the reader from the demonstrations of the civil rights era to the halls of Congress to the chambers of the Supreme Court. At this important moment in history, Give Us the Ballot provides new insight into one of the most vital political and civil rights issues of our time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374158279
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	08/04/2015
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Ari Berman is a political correspondent for The Nation and an investigative journalism Fellow at the Nation Institute. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times and Rolling Stone, and he is a frequent commentator on MSNBC and NPR. His first book, Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics, was published in 2010. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Contents




Prologue
1. The Second Emancipation
2. The Second Reconstruction
3. The Southern Strategy
4. Hands That Pick Cotton
5. The Counterrevolution
6. Challenging the Consensus
7. The Realignment
8. The Counterrevolution (II)
9. Old Poison, New Bottles
10. After Shelby

Editorial Reviews

Give Us the Ballot is an engrossing narrative history rather than constitutional analysis…Berman vividly shows that the power to define the scope of voting rights in America has shifted from Congress to the courts…

The New York Times Book Review - Jeffrey Rosen

★ 05/04/2015
Berman (Herding Donkeys) does a superb job of making the history of the right to vote in America not only easily understandable, but riveting. After recounting the story of the civil rights movement’s success in getting President Johnson to push the Voting Rights Act in 1965, Berman traces the erosion of that legislation over the subsequent half-century. Early appearances in the narrative by John Roberts and Samuel Alito foreshadow their eventual posture when they were named to the Supreme Court. Lay readers are likely to be surprised at how much successful pushback has occurred against what should be the basic right of democracy. Berman also makes clear that the illegal purging of supposed felons from Florida’s voting lists for the 2000 presidential election is more likely than the “butterfly ballot” to have been responsible for George W. Bush’s victory. This is the best kind of popular history—literate, passionate, and persuasive, balancing detail with accessibility. B&w illus. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

An engrossing narrative history . . . Berman vividly shows that the power to define the scope of voting rights in America has shifted from Congress to the courts.” —Jeffrey Rosen, The New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice)

“[Give Us The Ballot] should become a primer for every American, but especially for congressional lawmakers and staffers, because it so capably describes the intricate interplay between grass-roots activism and the halls of Congress . . . Congress must fix the Voting Rights Act, and Berman’s book explains why, without passion or favoritism. It is the first history of the contemporary voting rights movement in the United States. It is long overdue, but Berman’s extensive reporting makes it well worth the wait.” —John Lewis, The Washington Post

“Ari Berman’s important recent book, Give Us the Ballot, explores the struggle over voting rights unleashed by the civil-rights revolution, and how it continues to this day . . . Berman has performed a valuable public service by illuminating this history.” —Eric Foner, The Nation

“Fifty years after passage of the Voting Rights Act, Give Us the Ballot makes a powerful case that voting rights are under assault in 21st century America. Current events underscore the book's timeliness.” —Wendy Smith, The Los Angeles Times

“Ari Berman’s Give Us the Ballot, a history of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, makes for an excellent extended example of the mechanisms by which race in the South becomes race in the nation.” —Nicholas Lemann, The New Yorker

“An urgent, moving, deeply important history of the modern right to vote in the United States” —Michael O'Donnell, The Christian Science Monitor

“Comprehensive . . . The value of Give Us the Ballot lies in illustrating that the [Voting Rights Act] has never been universally accepted . . . Ari Berman convincingly shows that the fight for voting rights is far from over.” —Jordan Michael Smith, The Boston Globe

“An extremely valuable and terribly timely history of the Voting Rights Act . . . Berman deftly weaves together the politics, the intellectual and legal arguments, the legislative battles, the counterrevolutionary schemes, and the tragic and ironic turns in the story.” —Harvey J. Kaye, The Daily Beast

“Illuminating . . . Give Us the Ballot is a smart compendium of election "reforms." Berman removes the facade of intellectual honesty—where voting-rights opponents even bothered to make an argument—and lays bare the many, many ways to game the outcome of an election.” —Scott Porch, The Chicago Tribune

“The voting rights struggle of the 1960s produced several moments that remain seared in the nation’s memory . . . Ari Berman tells the story of these stirring moments, and tells it well. But unlike many civil rights chronicles, his account begins rather than ends in the 1960s. Via a series of vivid anecdotes, he describes the tumultuous history of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) from its enactment all the way to the present day. It’s an important and absorbing tale.”
—Nicholas Stephanopoulos, The New Rambler

“Berman's reporting is expertly balanced.” —Walton Muyumba, The Dallas Morning News

“Just in time for the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act comes this deep dive into the legacy of the civil rights movement and why we're still fighting for the right for everyone to have a slice of the political power pie.” —Lara Zarum, The Village Voice

“The Voting Rights Act was signed into law 50 years ago, but according to journalist Berman, the fight for equality in voting is still taking place” —The Los Angeles Times

“Ari Berman's Give Us the Ballot explains that the VRA's 50 years have seen great gains but also consistent opposition. The specifics may have changed. The campaign to suppress turnout among minorities has not . . . Read Give Us the Ballot.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Ari Berman's Give Us the Ballot is a fascinating, if also infuriating, chronicle of the modern era in voting rights - a time when those hard-won rights are suddenly in great jeopardy. Comprehensive, fair-minded and wise, the book tells a haunting story of rights won and rights lost.” —Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Oath and The Nine

“Ari Berman's Give us the Ballot is a must read for anyone who cares about the health of American democracy. Written with a deep respect for history, a keen journalistic sensibility, and a visceral passion for fairness, Berman's book takes us on a swift and critical journey through the last fifty years of voting in America. He begins on the Edmund Pettus bridge with the foot soldiers of Selma and concludes in the rotunda of the North Carolina statehouse with the protestors of Moral Mondays. All the critical figures of American voting rights appear in this book, but Berman allows no one story to dominate the narrative. His book is about the people, the ballot box, and our as yet unrealized ideal of fully free and fair elections. We have not yet arrived at the healthy democracy the 1965 Voting Rights Act promises is possible, but we have not given up hope. The struggle continues.” —Melissa Harris-Perry, host of MSNBC's Melissa-Harris Perry Show and Presidential Professor of Politics and International Studies at Wake Forest University

“Expertly taking us from the bloody streets of Selma to the current counterrevolution against the voting rights of black and poor Americans, Ari Berman reminds us that democracy can never be taken for granted, especially at a time when the courts are more than willing to abet efforts to limit the right to vote.” —Eric Foner, author of Gateway to Freedom

“Ari Berman has written a powerful history of the massive struggle that has taken place since 1965 over the survival of the Voting Rights Act. Berman reveals that from the moment Congress passed the landmark bill, opponents mobilized to dismantle it. The ongoing and sustained assaults on this historic legislation finally started to find success during the 1980s when opponents directed their efforts to the courts. This is a terrific, though troubling, read about the future of American democracy.” —Julian E. Zelizer, author of The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society

“Berman does a superb job of making the history of the right to vote in America not only easily understandable, but riveting...This is the best kind of popular history-literate, passionate, and persuasive, balancing detail with accessibility.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“[I]ncisive... This emotional book runs the gamut... Not just a compelling history, but a cry for help in the recurring struggle to gain what is supposed to be an inalienable right.” —Kirkus, starred review

From the Publisher

Ari Berman's Give us the Ballot is a must read for anyone who cares about the health of American democracy. Written with a deep respect for history, a keen journalistic sensibility, and a visceral passion for fairness, Berman's book takes us on a swift and critical journey through the last fifty years of voting in America. He begins on the Edmund Pettus bridge with the foot soldiers of Selma and concludes in the rotunda of the North Carolina statehouse with the protestors of Moral Mondays. All the critical figures of American voting rights appear in this book, but Berman allows no one story to dominate the narrative. His book is about the people, the ballot box, and our as yet unrealized ideal of fully free and fair elections. We have not yet arrived at the healthy democracy the 1965 Voting Rights Act promises is possible, but we have not given up hope. The struggle continues.

host of MSNBC's Melissa-Harris Perry Show and Pre Melissa Harris-Perry

★ 04/01/2016
Berman describes the history of the Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965, and how it is now encountering its strongest challenges. Recounting the 50-year struggle within the United States, Berman shines a light on recent history to show that the right to vote came, and still comes, with a heavy price. (LJ 7/15)

Library Journal

★ 2015-04-12
An incisive look at the many issues surrounding the right to vote. Berman (Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics, 2010), a contributing writer for the Nation and investigative journalism fellow at the Nation Institute, tracks the struggle to gain the vote, from Reconstruction, the backlash of Jim Crow, and the 1960s, when it all seemed to come together. The 1965 march across Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge was a tipping point. Before then, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson felt voting changes would endanger the president's Great Society project. The horror and brutality of that day changed everything, and the most liberal Congress since the New Deal passed the Voting Rights Act. After Johnson signed the act in August 1965, he said that the South was lost to the Democratic Party for the next generation. He was absolutely right. What he didn't foresee was the opening of the floodgates to deny and disenfranchise voters across the South and well beyond. The author recounts how the act enabled the Department of Justice to gain ground through three generations of cases. They outlawed literacy tests and poll taxes, dismantled gerrymandered districts and at large elections, and fought for a fair share of political power. This emotional book runs the gamut from great joy at the quest accomplished in 1965 to pride at the success of the judicial system in upholding voting rights to disbelief as the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush courts shattered 50 years of work. Voter ID laws, shortened early polling days, and voter roll purges are just the latest tactics in a fight that continues. Not just a compelling history, but a cry for help in the recurring struggle to gain what is supposed to be an inalienable right.

Kirkus Reviews