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

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 717 ratings

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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.
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From the Publisher

voter suppression, voter rights White Rage
Dick Durbin, voter rights, voter suppression, right to vote

Editorial Reviews

Review

"One Person, No Vote reads like a speedy sequel of sorts to her previous book, the elegant and illuminating best-seller White Rage . . . Her new book seems to have been written from a state of emergency, in an adrenaline-fueled sprint. Anderson is a stinging polemicist; her book rolls through a condensed history of voting rights and disenfranchisement, without getting bogged down in legislative minutiae. This is harder than it looks . . . This trenchant little book will push you to think not just about the vote count but about who counts, too." - Jennifer Szalai, New York Times

"Anderson has a gift for illustrating how specific historical injustices have repercussive, detrimental influence on contemporary American life. . . . If
White Rage is history as even-tempered cultural criticism--it was awarded the 2017 National Book Critics Circle citation in criticism--then One Person, No Vote is history as old-fashioned, coldblooded jeremiad: a lamentation about American democracy in crisis. Throughout One Person, Anderson’s tone, at turns urgent and indignant, seems to arise from the ease with which she can document abundantly--via investigative journalism, popular history and historical scholarship--the GOP’s determined efforts to purge American citizens and cull and homogenize the electorate." - Los Angeles Times

"As the last two national elections demonstrated, many Americans feel angry, frustrated, and confused by a voting system that simply doesn’t work; Anderson (
White Rage) traces the ugly history of disenfranchisement, gerrymandering, and suppression that disable true democracy." - Boston Globe, "Best Books of the Year"

"Anderson’s description of the perpetual war that blacks and now Latinos have fought to get and keep the right to vote is impeccably researched, deftly written and, sadly, prescient. . . .
One Person, No Votes punches above its weight, like a lecture from a professor with superb command of language." - Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Powerful . . . Her book is a disturbing drill down into how the right to vote is being slowly destroyed with too few of us noticing." -
Washington Post

"
One Person, No Vote is a careful documentation of the ways in which Republican voter suppression efforts disproportionately and specifically affect minority voters. . . . Anderson’s new book, along with her 2017 volume White Rage, shows how difficult it is to separate out our current political situation from the legacy of Jim Crow’s racial apartheid system. The Republican war on the fairness of American elections is, by its nature, a project that targets one of the core victories of the civil rights movement." - Vox

"All of the books on this list have present-day implications, but perhaps none more so than this charged dive into voter suppression from the Chair of African American Studies at Emory University.
One Person, No Vote looks at this history of this anti-democratic tactic, particularly its racist roots." - Entertainment Weekly.com

"Carol Anderson's prose is unflinching, and she wastes no time as she marches the reader from the openly racist, clear-cutting suppression tactics of the early 20th century toward the carefully veneered, ruthlessly efficient disenfranchisement campaign of the present. Whether you only think about voting on a single Tuesday in November or you're passionately engaged in the fight for the ballot, you will set this book down with the knowledge that it's all so much worse than you thought." -
NPR, Best Books of the Year

"Voter suppression and disenfranchisement might be the most serious issue in American politics today. In this vastly important read,
White Rage author Carol Anderson unpacks how the 2013 Supreme Court decision to roll back the Voting Rights Act of 1965 led to a storm of government-led racial discrimination and voter suppression." - Bustle, 25 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year

"Through shrewd analysis and by following real voters, Anderson exposes the racial discrimination underlying government-sanctioned laws and practices like photo ID requirements and gerrymandering." -
BuzzFeed

"Serves as a gimlet-eyed analysis of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Jim Crow laws." -
O, the Oprah Magazine, 14 Books to Read before Heading to the Polls

"From photo ID requirements to gerrymandering to poll closures, Anderson details these discriminatory practices and the resistance movement that's fighting to restore every citizen's right to vote." -
Teen Vogue, "7 Books That'll Help You Understand America's Voting History"

"Voter suppression is one of the most important threats to American democracy. You might already think this before reading Anderson’s book, but if not, the copious, well-researched evidence she presents here--that shows how Republican politicians have been systematically and purposefully stripping voting abilities from black and low-income voters--is difficult to refute. Immediately relevant and deeply disturbing." -
LitHub

"Looking at gerrymandering, voter ID laws, the closure of polling places, and a host of other forms of voter suppression; Carol Anderson brilliantly shows how African Americans have systematically lost their voting rights since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Today, as voter suppression disproportionately affect Black voters and our elections,
One Person, No Vote is a necessary read that explains how disguised racism continues to impact our political institutions." - Black Perspectives, "Best Black History Books of the Year"

"This whiplash-inducing chronicle of how a nation that just a few short years ago elected its first black president now finds itself in the throes of a deceitful and craven effort to rip this most essential of American rights from millions of its citizens." -
Starred Review, Booklist

"The award-winning author of
White Rage explores the drive to purge voters of their right to cast a ballot, meanwhile exposing a decades-long plot to disenfranchise people of color. Her title serves as a gimlet-eyed analysis of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Jim Crow laws." - Oprah.com, 27 of the Best Political Books to Read to Process the 2020 Election”

"It is necessary that American students understand the world in which they live so that they do not allow their voices to be suppressed." -
Starred Review, School Library Connection

"A ripped-from-the-headlines book . . . Anderson is a highly praised academic who has mastered the art of gathering information and writing for a general readership, and her latest book could not be more timely." -
Kirkus

"Providing a fascinating historical context for current events, an insightful book to read and consider." -
Booklist

"Insightful . . . [Anderson] scrupulously details the history of racially and politically motivated disenfranchisement in the United States. . . . Anyone interested in American democracy or how equality can be not only legislated but realized will find this account illuminating and clarifying." -
Publishers Weekly

"A clear, concise, and compelling exploration of racialized voter suppression from Jim Crow through today . . . This book is impeccably researched and perfectly argued. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in politics, policy, and polling." -
BookRiot, Best Books of the Year

"In
White Rage, a New York Times best seller that won the National Book Critics Circle Award,Emory professor Anderson chronicled efforts since 1865 to block the advancement of African Americans. Here she concentrates on efforts to curtail the African American vote since the 2013 Shelby ruling gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Anderson considers both consequences--e.g., photo ID requirements, poll closures--and means of redress." - Library Journal, Barbara's Nonfiction Picks for September 2018

"Well-timed . . . In a slim volume, Anderson details the outrages of Republican efforts to target largely minority voters and to limit their influence in elections. . . . Blood-boiling stories like these come rapid-fire in Anderson’s narrative, which is also peppered with a brief history of voter suppression dating back to Reconstruction." -
Washington Monthly

"In her impeccably timed 2016 best-seller,
White Rage, historian and Emory professor Carol Anderson took readers on a jarring and illuminating journey through America’s deep history of structural racism. Her new book, One Person, No Vote, connects that historical legacy with the resurgence of voter suppression that’s capturing headlines in 2018, thanks not only to the ascendance of Trumpism, but the state-level depredations of voting-rights foes like Brian Kemp in Georgia, John Husted in Ohio, and Kris Kobach in Kansas." - The American Prospect

"Reading Carol Anderson’s
One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy makes it clear that [voter suppression] is alive and well. With exhaustive research and documentation and compelling narrative style, Anderson conveys how the overtly racist poll taxes, literacy tests, targeted violence and intimidation that evolved after Reconstruction to prevent African-Americans and other minorities from voting have been supplanted by ostensibly colorblind efforts to fight voter fraud and game the electoral system." - Asheville Citizen Times

"Most of us are well aware that there is something fundamentally broken about the way we vote--but not why. In
One Person No Vote, Carol Anderson offers up a timely, powerfully written, and comprehensive indictment of the (relatively recent) history of brutal race-based vote suppression, and its many modern iterations--from voter ID requirements and voter purges, to fraudulent election fraud commissions and stolen elections. Along the way Anderson traces the rise and fall of the landmark Voting Rights Act and how the Supreme Court continues to blinker itself to the ways in which American elections are neither free nor fair, and how the dignity of states and white voters continues to be privileged above the franchise itself. A must-read for anyone wondering why voting is the most important issue we continue to misapprehend." - Dahlia Lithwick, Chief Legal Correspondent for SLATE and host of the Amicus podcast

"As Carol Anderson makes clear in
One Person, No Vote, the right to vote is under even greater assault today. For the sake of those who fought and died for it, it is up to all of us to insist that this most basic American right be protected. Reading this well-crafted book will arm you with the facts." - Senator Dick Durbin, from the Foreword

"An amazing book . . . a reminder that democracies only work if people participate. And we need to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to participate as our constitution guarantees." -
Senator Tina Smith

"Carol Anderson is one of our most incisive and cogent thinkers regarding history's fingerprints on current affairs. With
One Person, No Vote she has produced a crucial examination of a critical issue: voter suppression. At a time when democracy is under siege and the worst elements of the racial past are being resurrected we can scarcely afford to avert our eyes from our most pressing challenges. Carol Anderson looks at these issues directly, unflinchingly, and offers us an invaluable insight regarding where we are, how we got here, and how we might navigate our way to safer shores." - Jelani Cobb, author of THE SUBSTANCE OF HOPE

"Some of the most useful [books] have been those that show how so many of the fights that we’re having right now are fights that are constant, that are ongoing, that have been here since the very beginning. Like Carol Anderson’s
One Person, No Vote, that looks at the centuries-long battle over voting rights and voter suppression." - Carlos Lozada, author of WHAT WERE WE THINKING: A BRIEF INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF THE TRUMP ERA

"You pay attention to the news and regularly try to stay up-to-date on the latest political happenings, so you’ve definitely heard about voter suppression and how it’s one of the most important issues in modern society. But for many, that’s all they know. If you’re looking to understand the ins and outs of what exactly is being done about voter suppression or what could be done about it, make sure you grab a copy of
One Person, No Vote." - GetLiterary, 5 Books to Read if You Want to Become More Politically Engaged

"really fascinating … a good, accessible book" -
BookRiot’s “For Real” podcast, “Black History Month Reads”

"Shocking and disturbing . . . an upsetting--but necessary--read." -
Street Roots News

"Voter suppression is no accident, and Carol Anderson is here to make that abundantly clear."
- BookRiot, “8 Nonfiction Reads About Social Justice”

About the Author

Carol Anderson is the Charles Howard Candler Professor and Chair of African American Studies at Emory University. She is the author of White Rage, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, Bourgeois Radicals, and Eyes off the Prize. She was named a Guggenheim Fellow for Constitutional Studies. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07951DQVB
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Publishing; 1st edition (September 11, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 11, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2615 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 361 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 717 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
717 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2021
This book is a must read! I was just not aware of the extent of the planned, organized, deliberate and insidious actions that the Republican Party has taken to suppress votes from the disenfranchised and the impact that has on our Democracy. I am stricken by the horror of what has been happening now for YEARS and is still going on today!! Carol Anderson has compiled hard data to demonstrate the pervasiveness of the many voter suppression steps that have been taken across many states, primarily in the deep south, but not exclusive to the south. It’s very difficult to take reams of data and put it into a coherent, logical sequence that can be easily understood but she is masterful at making her book eminently readable. This is a very data driven book but I had no trouble getting through it. The conclusion did have some hopeful information relaying steps that some states are taking to increase voter participation which did give me some hope. I am so glad that I read this and I think we all should be informed on this issue as it is central to our state as a country.
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2020
This is a very well documented book about voter suppression in America. It was interesting to see that before the Jim Crow era, black people voted, were elected to office, got educations and did fairly well. With Jim Crow, horrific voter suppression began (lynchings, etc.). In the early days it was the Southern Democrats and the KKK. As time went on the methods simply became more devious. In the 1930s FDR began attempting to attract black voters to the party. By the end of WWII we had "Dixiecrats". By the time the time the Civil Rights Act was passed, the transition was complete and those Southern Democrats were now members of the GOP. (Much of that bit of history is not in the book, but you'll want to look it up.) The GOP is now the master of voter suppression, and you can see it pretty much everywhere but especially in Georgia, Texas, Minnesota and many southern states. The book is chock full or examples, case histories and stories of resistance. It made me want to sell my house and give the money to the ACLU, NAACP, and SPLC to defend our most precious right (not privilege) to vote.
5 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2022
A well written, easy to understand, and eye opening book which details the problems with our current political system and the efforts to control the vote in order to keep the power and the money in the hands of the few. Well worth reading and will shift your view of voting and the difficulties many of our citizens face.
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2021
A must-read for anyone who wants to understand the troubled and racist history of voting rights in the US.

My only complaint is that the Kindle version of this book messes up the footnotes. The great thing about reading on the Kindle is that you don't have to flip back and forth to check the footnote cites; you only have to click on them. Sadly, the footnotes aren't correct in the Kindle version of the book. They somehow were shifted by one, as I was able to confirm in my hardcover copy, completely ruining the experience if you wish to read more about a specific incident. This is inexcusable in my mind, but I won't hurt the rating for this book by taking off a star.
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2024
Good reading good experience very informative
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2019
Anderson quite thoroughly explodes the myth of the rampant voter fraud claims that fuel the actual problem of rampant voter disenfranchisement, particularly aimed at non-whites. And, by extension, Anderson explodes the myth of the United States being a free and open democracy and shows us how much we still have to do to live up to the national image some of us like to think we put out to the world. From the illegal purging of voter registrations, to gerrymandering, to voter intimidation, Anderson offers up the facts of the racist policies that look to keep elections in the hands of white patriarchy and suppress its opponents. While Anderson sometimes resorts to some typical metaphors in her rhetoric (false comparisons to Stalin, for example, or Orwell name drops) that could too easily be cherry-picked by dull-minded opponents looking to poke holes in an otherwise fine case of what should be enraging us into action.
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2020
Detailed look at the many voter suppression efforts that target communities of color and the poor. The rationale is partisan and simple: a majority of the country doesn't agree with Republican politics. In order to stay in power, the GOP is using seemingly neutral laws that in reality disenfranchise many voters, particularly African Americans. The GOP has manufactured solutions in search of a problem, all in an effort to stop non-white people from voting. It's incredibly pernicious but Carol Anderson has written an excellent book pulling back the curtain on voter suppression.
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2019
This book is a must-read for every American. It starts as a historical lesson about voting rights and how they have evolved and devolved over the years and ends with a very detailed real time discussion of current voter suppression, gerrymandering, and election fraud. The greatest lesson I learned from it is that our voting experiences are absolutely determined by our zip codes. It is extremely relevant to what is happening today and in our very recent past. This book should be required reading in every high school and college American History, Civics and Government class un America.

Top reviews from other countries

Patrick C. K.
5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, well done.
Reviewed in Italy on December 18, 2020
Every American should read this book.
Jan
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
Reviewed in Canada on January 7, 2019
Meticulously researched. Gives the proper historical context for what is currently occuring with regards to voter suppression through voter ID laws and other means. The only way to correctly assess the present is to understand the past. This book does just that.

My only critique is that the book is listed at over 250 pages but over 100 pages are notes (like I said, meticulous, but I expected a longer book)
Prakhar
3.0 out of 5 stars Good book. Delivered in sad state.
Reviewed in India on June 24, 2020
Meaningful book in today’s world. Unfortunately global democracies are behaving similar and probably we have already seen our best in terms of equality.

Note: Delivered in poor condition. Seems used.
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Prakhar
3.0 out of 5 stars Good book. Delivered in sad state.
Reviewed in India on June 24, 2020
Meaningful book in today’s world. Unfortunately global democracies are behaving similar and probably we have already seen our best in terms of equality.

Note: Delivered in poor condition. Seems used.
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