A penetrating, character-filled history “in the manner of David McCullough” (WSJ), revealing the deep roots of our tormented present-day politics.Democracy was broken. Or that was what many Americans believed in the decades after the Civil War. Shaken by economic and technological disruption, they sought safety in aggressive, tribal partisanship. The results were the loudest, closest, most violent elections in U.S. history, driven by vibrant campaigns that drew our...

Winner of the Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians * Winner of the Lincoln Forum Book Prize * Finalist for the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln PrizeA propulsive account of our history's most surprising, most consequential political club: the Wide Awake anti-slavery youth movement that marched America from the 1860 election to civil war.At the start of the 1860 presidential campaign, a handful of fired-up young Northerners ap...

There was a time when young people were the most passionate participants in American democracy. In the second half of the nineteenth century — as voter turnout reached unprecedented peaks — young people led the way, hollering, fighting, and flirting at massive midnight rallies. Parents trained their children to be “violent little partisans,” while politicians lobbied twenty-one-year-olds for their “virgin votes”—the first ballot cast upon reaching adulthood. In schoolhouses, saloons, and s...

Bloomsbury presents The Age of Acrimony by Jon Grinspan, read by Johnny Heller.A penetrating, character-filled history “in the manner of David McCullough” (WSJ), revealing the deep roots of our tormented present-day politics.Democracy was broken. Or that was what many Americans believed in the decades after the Civil War. Shaken by economic and technological disruption, they sought safety in aggressive, tribal partisanship. The results were the loudest, closest, most violen...

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard SelectionThe National Comedy Center and Smithsonian Institution hold unparalleled collections of artifacts that illustrate the vitality and importance of comedy in American life, from vaudeville, silent films, and TV sitcoms to stand-up, sketch, and cartoons. Now, for the first time, these collections are brought together in vibrant photographs and illuminating essays that tell the story of how comedy shaped American hi...

Bloomsbury presents Wide Awake by Jon Grinspan, read by Sean Pratt.“Excellent."—Wall Street JournalA propulsive account of our history’s most surprising, most consequential political club: the Wide Awake anti-slavery youth movement that marched America from the 1860 election to civil war.At the start of the 1860 presidential campaign, a handful of fired-up young Northerners appeared as bodyguards to defend anti-slavery stump speakers from frequent attacks. The group...