Fragile Democracy

“As Triangle-area professors James Leloudis and Bob Korstad ably document in their new book Fragile Democracy: The Struggle over Race and Voting Rights in North Carolina . . . arguments over who 'deserves' to vote are closely tied to struggles over whose interests government should serve.”—Queen City Nerve

“A researched look at North Carolina’s fraught relationship with race and voting. By looking back, [Leloudis and Korstad] create a framework for the future.”—IndyWeek

A clarion wake-up call [that] analyzes the ongoing attack on U.S. democracy. . . . By putting current politics into historical perspective, these superb scholars help up understand how we got to this critical moment today, providing both hope and a framework to move forward.”—Journal of Southern History

“This timely book bears evidence that ‘history has a clarifying power.'”—Watson Jennison, Journal of African American History

“The core issues in Fragile Democracy have become deeply politicized in a partisan manner, and the only way to cut through that noise is by providing a reader with a factual narrative. Leloudis and Korstad do just that, delivering a detailed account of the history of racial politics in North Carolina dating back to the Civil War.” — Angie Maxwell, coauthor of The Long Southern Strategy: How Chasing White Voters in the South Changed American Politics

“Fragile Democracy provides a powerful reckoning with the history of voting rights in North Carolina, from the era of Reconstruction to our own time. James Leloudis and Robert Korstad have crafted a must-read book for anyone concerned with the past, present, and future of the state.” — Kevin M. Kruse, author of Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974