Further Reading: Historians and Scholars Warning About Democratic Erosion & Those Offering Counter Perspectives
This list isn’t an endorsement of any single viewpoint. It’s a map of the conversation—Americans deserve to see the full intellectual landscape before drawing conclusions.
Scholars Warning of Democratic Backsliding
- Anne Applebaum: Twilight of Democracy; Red Famine
- Timothy Snyder: On Tyranny; The Road to Unfreedom
- Heather Cox Richardson: Democracy Awakening; Letters from an American
- Masha Gessen: Surviving Autocracy
- David Frum: Trumpocracy; Trumpocalypse
- Lawrence G. Goodman: Commentary and analysis on democratic norms
- Mark Lilla: The Once and Future Liberal; essays on liberalism and democracy
Scholars Emphasizing Democratic Resilience and Long-Arc Stability
- Robert Putnam: Bowling Alone; The Upswing
- Theda Skocpol: Diminished Democracy; research on civic organizations
- Larry Diamond: Ill Winds; scholarship on democratic renewal
- Francis Fukuyama: Political Order and Political Decay; Liberalism and Its Discontents
- Sean Wilentz: The Rise of American Democracy
- James Madison: Federalist Papers (especially Nos. 10 & 51)
- E.J. Dionne, Jr.: Why Americans Hate Politics; work on polarization and reform