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

The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis hosted a conversation with historian Heather Cox Richardson on December 4, 2023 in Graham Chapel on the Danforth Campus. Mark Valeri offered the introductions and Laurie Maffly-Kipp led the on-stage conversation. In her compelling new book, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, Richardson explains how a small group of wealthy people have made war on American ideals, leading us down a dangerous path to authoritarianism. By weaponizing language and promoting a false history, they have created a disaffected population and then promised to recreate an imagined past where those people could feel important again. Richardson argues that taking our country back starts by remembering the elements of the nation’s true history that marginalized Americans have always upheld—their dedication has sustained our democracy in the past and can be a road map for our future.