The Presidents and the People - Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought to Defend It

Imagine an American president who imprisoned critics, spread a culture of white supremacy and tried to upend the law so that he could commit crimes with impunity. In this propulsive and eminently readable history, Corey Brettschneider provides a thoroughly researched account of assaults on democracy by not one such president but five: John Adams, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Woodrow Wilson and Richard Nixon.

Brettschneider shows that these presidents didn't have the last word; citizen movements brought the United States back from the precipice by appealing to a democratic understanding of the Constitution and pressuring subsequent reform-minded presidents to realise the promise of "We the People". This is a book about citizens-Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Daniel Ellsberg and more-who fought back against presidential abuses of power and give hope about the possibilities of restoring democracy.

About the author

Corey Brettschneider is a professor at Brown University, where he teaches constitutional law and politics. He has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Time. He is also the author of The Oath and the Office. He lives in New York.

Product details

• Authors: Corey Brettschneider, Brettschneider Corey
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 07.10.2025
• EAN: 9781324110880
• ISBN: 978-1-324-11088-0
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; USA, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Democracy, LAW / Constitutional, HISTORY / United States / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / Executive Branch, Political structures: democracy, United States of America, USA, History of the Americas, Central / national / federal government, Central government, Constitution, Constitutional & administrative law