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 in 1965 and the turbulent
forces it unleashed. 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 it from the
moment the act was signed into law. The VRA is widely regarded as the
crowning achievement of the civil rights movement, and yet--more than
fifty years later--the battles over race, representation, and
political power continue, as lawmakers devise new strategies to keep
minorities out of the voting booth, while the Supreme Court has
declared a key part of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional.
Through meticulous
research, in-depth interviews, and incisive on-the-ground reporting,
Give Us the Ballot offers the first comprehensive history of
its kind, and provides new insight into one of the most vital
political and civil rights issues of our time.
