A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, NonfictionNamed a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review and The Washington PostNamed a Best Book of the Year by NPR, The Boston Globe, and Kirkus Reviews (Best Nonfiction)Countless books have been written about the civil rights movement, but far less attention has been paid to what happened after the dramatic passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and the turbulent forces it unleashed. In this groundbreaking narrative history, Ari Berman charts both the transformation of American democracy under the VRA and the counterrevolution that has sought to limit it from the moment the act was signed into law. The VRA is widely regarded as the crowning achievement of the civil rights movement, and yet-more than fifty years later-the battles over race, representation, and political power continue, as lawmakers devise new strategies to keep minorities out of the voting booth, while the Supreme Court has declared a key part of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional.Through meticulous research, in-depth interviews, and incisive on-the-ground reporting, Give Us the Ballot offers the first comprehensive history of its kind, and provides new insight into one of the most vital political and civil rights issues of our time.

CONTENTSPrologue 31. The Second Emancipation 132. The Second Reconstruction 393. The Southern Strategy 654. Hands That Pick Cotton 1005. The Counterrevolution 1216. Challenging the Consensus 1597. The Realignment 1838. The Counterrevolution (II) 2079. Old Poison, New Bottles 24510. After Shelby 286Notes 315Author Interviews 353Acknowledgments 357Index 359