One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy

As featured in the documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy

Finalist for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction
Longlisted for the National Book Award in Nonfiction
An NPR Politics Podcast Book Club Choice
Named one of the Best Books of the Year by:
Washington Post * Boston Globe * NPR* Bustle * BookRiot * New York Public Library

From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of White Rage, the startling--and timely--history of voter suppression in America, with a foreword by Senator Dick Durbin.

In her New York Times bestseller White Rage, Carol Anderson laid bare an insidious history of policies that have systematically impeded black progress in America, from 1865 to our combustible present. With One Person, No Vote, she chronicles a related history: the rollbacks to African American participation in the vote since the 2013 Supreme Court decision that eviscerated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Known as the Shelby ruling, this decision effectively allowed districts with a demonstrated history of racial discrimination to change voting requirements without approval from the Department of Justice.

Focusing on the aftermath of Shelby, Anderson follows the astonishing story of government-dictated racial discrimination unfolding before our very eyes as more and more states adopt voter suppression laws. In gripping, enlightening detail she explains how voter suppression works, from photo ID requirements to gerrymandering to poll closures. And with vivid characters, she explores the resistance: the organizing, activism, and court battles to restore the basic right to vote to all Americans.

BUY THE BOOK

288 pages

Average rating: 7.69

13 RATINGS

|

1 REVIEW

Community Reviews

spoko
Oct 21, 2024
8/10 stars
The frequency of vote suppression in American wasn’t news to me, nor was the partisan nature of it. But it probably speaks to the narrowness and privilege of my viewpoint that I wasn’t fully aware of the extent to which these actions have begun and ended with racial animus. In that sense especially, this was a really eye-opening book.

See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.