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The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States Paperback – June 30, 2009

by Alexander Keyssar (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 103 ratings
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Originally published in 2000, The Right to Vote was widely hailed as a magisterial account of the evolution of suffrage from the American Revolution to the end of the twentieth century. In this revised and updated edition, Keyssar carries the story forward, from the disputed presidential contest of 2000 through the 2008 campaign and the election of Barack Obama. The Right to Vote is a sweeping reinterpretation of American political history as well as a meditation on the meaning of democracy in contemporary American life.
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  1. Print length
    495 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Basic Books
  4. Publication date
    June 30, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.24 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0465005020
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0465005024
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alexander Keyssar is the Matthew W. Stirling, Jr., Professor of History and Social Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. His 1986 book, Out of Work, was awarded three scholarly prizes, and his book, The Right to Vote, was named the best book in U.S. history by both the American Historical Association and the Historical Society; it was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; Revised edition (June 30, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 495 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465005020
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465005024
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.35 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.24 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 103 ratings

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Alexander Keyssar

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4.5 out of 5 stars
103 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this book to be an incredibly well-researched and detailed history of voting rights in the United States. They describe it as an entertaining read and praise its writing quality.

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9 customers mention "Research quality"9 positive0 negative

Customers praise the book's research quality, describing it as incredibly detailed and exhaustively covering the history of voting rights in the United States. One customer notes the inclusion of revealing quotes from historical figures, while another highlights its value as a college US History reference.

"...Keysarr did a great job of researching and writing it. It was not as dry as some of the other, similar books I've read...." Read more

"...Can be dry at times, though many of the quotes from historical figures are revealing as to prevailing attitudes." Read more

"...little more than what I was looking for, but this is as thorough as I have ever come across...." Read more

"Detailed exhaustively researched history of the right to vote in America. I learned more from this book than any other source." Read more

8 customers mention "Readability"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book entertaining and excellent to read.

"I had to read this book for a political theory class, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Keysarr did a great job of researching and writing it...." Read more

"...When all is said and done, this is a great book." Read more

"...Well worth reading about the struggles of Americans to get the vote. The discussion of suffrage for all Americans...." Read more

"...thorough guide through the evolution of our democracy, it is an entertaining read...." Read more

5 customers mention "History"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's historical content, describing it as a superb document that traces the history of America's democracy.

"This must be the definitive history of voting in America...." Read more

"...The discussion of suffrage for all Americans. How those that had the vote trying to prevent other people from getting the vote...." Read more

"...Not only is the book a thorough guide through the evolution of our democracy, it is an entertaining read...." Read more

"THis is an excellent book for history on Voting Rights in the US since the country's inception...." Read more

3 customers mention "Writing quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the writing quality of the book, with one describing it as incredibly well-written and another noting it is readable.

"...Keysarr did a great job of researching and writing it. It was not as dry as some of the other, similar books I've read...." Read more

"Extremely well researched and readable. Great resource to understand the denial of the vote in American history." Read more

"...Its incredibly well-written and fun to read." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • William A. Blackwell
    5.0 out of 5 stars read!
    Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    I had to read this book for a political theory class, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Keysarr did a great job of researching and writing it. It was not as dry as some of the other, similar books I've read. I would definitely recommend this one, even if it's not for a class.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • anomymous
    5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly well researched
    Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Purchased in light of the current election fraud/security debates. I learned nothing so far is new. Data intensive. Can be dry at times, though many of the quotes from historical figures are revealing as to prevailing attitudes.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Jack Lechelt
    4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and thorough
    Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    This must be the definitive history of voting in America. I hold back from giving it five stars because it was a little more than what I was looking for, but this is as thorough as I have ever come across. Also, I love charts and graphs, and he has a great array of tables at the end. Interesting tidbit was the role war played throughout American history in expanding the right to vote. Also, though we all know how the right to vote gradually expanded, but what many of us didn't realize was how the right to vote actually shrunk at various points in American history. That is, some people who had the right to vote had it taken away at various moments in American history. When all is said and done, this is a great book.
    10 people found this helpful
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  • Philly Fan
    5.0 out of 5 stars democracy in action or am I allowed to vote
    Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    This is a superb document on the history of voting rights in America from its founding to 2000. Well worth reading about the struggles of Americans to get the vote. The discussion of suffrage for all Americans. How those that had the vote trying to prevent other people from getting the vote. We struggle with this today, given that President Drumpf is more than willing to disregard the majority of American voters. Our democracy beware and here is the history.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • Tim Olson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book
    Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Detailed exhaustively researched history of the right to vote in America. I learned more from this book than any other source.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Randall Lindsey
    5.0 out of 5 stars Unfolding of the right to vote in the U.S.
    Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2006
    Verified Purchase
    In my forty years of studying the history of the U.S., I find this work to be the most authoritative and complete work yet encountered. Not only is the book a thorough guide through the evolution of our democracy, it is an entertaining read. The book is a 'must' read for those who seek a perspective on many of the current issues involving voting rights.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • pnotley@hotmail.com
    4.0 out of 5 stars A useful study
    Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2000
    This is a book that will make you angry. If you are a conservative, this book should make you feel very guilty. It is important to begin with that this book is a detour from Keyssar's larger project, which was supposed to be a history of the American working class' electoral participation. After struggling with the work for several years he realized that he needed to publish a whole book explaining what the right to vote actually was in American history. The result is a history of the slow and uneven path to universal suffrage in American history. We learn about the existence of the vote before 1776, the improvement that occured with the revolution, and the larger improvement that occured with the Jeffersonian/Jacksonian period in which the large majority of white men were able to vote. At the same time we learn of efforts to counter the expanding suffrage, such as disfranchisement of free blacks all over the country before 1861, attacks on the voting rights of paupers, felons, migrants and aliens, as well as the disfranchisment in the early 1800s of the limited voting rights women had in the early 1800s. Keyssar then goes on to discuss the narrowing of the portals from the 1860s to the 1920s, periods ironically bounded by giving the vote to blacks in the 1870s and to women by the 1920s. But in between that period nearly all blacks and many whites were disenfranchised in the south, while literacy, residence, nationality and registration systems sought to limit the vote in the North (while "asiatics" were barred in the west). The book concludes with the successful passage of the Voting Rights Act and the twenty-sixth amendment, but also with low turnout, an extremely narrow political spectrum, and government structures which limit political participation and reinforce conservative values.
    Much of this will not be new to historians, though never before has there been such detail and the twenty appendixes provided at the back will be invaluable for future reference. Sometimes Keyssar gives a qualititative estimate of how many Americans could vote (he suggests that perhaps 60% of white Americans could vote before 1776, a figure much lower than the 80-90% posited by more Panglossian historians). And there are many interesting details, such as the New York plan where registration was supposed to take place on Yom Kippur, conventiently leaving out many Jews. But otherwise the full results have been reserved for his upcoming work. This weakens his criticisms of American exceptionalism, since without a clear understanding of how much the vote declined in the North, we cannot see how fully the ponderous elitism of Parkman and Godkin were like the undemocratic aspects of German or Italian or even British liberalism. I am also do not agree with his description of slaves as a "peasantry." This implies that the majority of white farmers who were not slaveholders were a) not peasants and b) were otherwise indistinguishable on a class basis from the slaveholders. Recent southern agrarian history makes this assumption quite questionable. It is true that Americans were unenthusiatic as Europeans about the rise of the proletariat and rural subaltern classes, but it is insufficient to say that mass suffrage only occured because such classes were a small proportion of the population. They were also a small proportion of the population in France in 1848 and 1851 when universal male suffrage was declared, which did not prevent a greater degree of struggle over the question in that country. Enfranchising the majority of any population would raise serious issues of class domination and control regardless of the class structure. Nevertheless this is still a useful study, and reading the petty, racist, misogynist, self-serving and self-satisfied arguments against the suffrage will be a depressing experience. To think that such injustices could be continued for two centuries thanks to the endless cant of "state's rights" long after the republican content of that slogan had drained away will infuriate you.
    65 people found this helpful
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  • How Family
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference for college US History I & Ii.
    Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    My college course references this book for US History I & Ii at Temple College in Texas.
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