The right to vote

by Alexander Keyssar

"Alexander Keyssar's account highlights the gap between the hallowed image of the United States as the democratic nation and the reality that it took nearly two centuries for universal suffrage to be achieved. The story that he presents is one of both progress toward democratization and of fierce resistance to any expansion of the franchise. It includes lively accounts of those who "won" the right to vote, including women. African Americans, immigrants and industrial workers, while also describing recurrent - and sometimes successful - efforts to bar millions of individuals from the...