
If We Can Keep It
How the Republic Collapsed and How it Might Be Saved
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Peter Berkrot
-
By:
-
Michael Tomasky
About this listen
A game-changing account of the deep roots of political polarization in America, including an audacious 14-point agenda for how to fix it.
Why has American politics fallen into such a state of horrible dysfunction? Can it ever be fixed? These are the questions that motivate Michael Tomasky’s deeply original examination into the origins of our hopelessly polarized nation. “One of America’s finest political commentators” (Michael J. Sandel), Tomasky ranges across centuries and disciplines to show how America has almost always had two dominant parties that are existentially, and often violently, opposed. When he turns to our current era, he does so with striking insight that will challenge listeners to reexamine what they thought they knew. Finally, not content merely to diagnose these problems, Tomasky offers a provocative agenda for how we can help fix our broken political system - from ranked-choice voting and at-large congressional elections to expanding high school civics education nationwide.
Combining revelatory data with trenchant analysis, Tomasky tells us how the nation broke apart and points us toward a more hopeful political future.
©2019 Michael Tomasky (P)2019 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Supermajority
- How the Supreme Court Divided America
- By: Michael Waldman
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean, Michael Waldman - introduction
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Supermajority, Michael Waldman explores the tumultuous 2021–2022 Supreme Court term. He draws deeply on history to examine other times the Court veered from the popular will, provoking controversy, and backlash. And he analyzes the most important new rulings and their implications for the law and for American society. Waldman asks: What can we do when the Supreme Court challenges the country?
-
-
This should be a serialized media presentation, for the return of some normalization of the Supreme Court.
- By Elaine on 06-08-23
By: Michael Waldman
-
The Middle Out
- The Rise of Progressive Economics
- By: Michael Tomasky
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the first half of the twentieth century the Keynesian brand of economics, which saw government spending as a necessary spur to economic growth, prevailed. Then in the 1970s, conservatives fought back. Once they got people to believe a few simple ideas instead—that only the free market could produce growth, that taxes and regulation stifle growth—the battle was won.
-
-
Great for college students who want historical context for where we are today
- By Clea Cloutier on 09-07-22
By: Michael Tomasky
-
The Birth of Classical Europe
- A History from Troy to Augustine
- By: Simon Price, Peter Thonemann
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To an extraordinary extent we continue to live in the shadow of the classical world. At every level, from languages to calendars to political systems, we are the descendants of a “classical Europe,” using frames of reference created by ancient Mediterranean cultures. As this consistently fresh and surprising new audio book makes clear, however, this was no less true for the inhabitants of those classical civilizations themselves, whose myths, history, and buildings were an elaborate engagement with an already old and revered past - one filled with great leaders and writers....
-
-
Excellent overview of the Classical World
- By David I. Williams on 01-12-14
By: Simon Price, and others
-
A Peace to End All Peace
- The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East
- By: David Fromkin
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. Author David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time.
-
-
Still A Great Book On The Topic
- By Nostromo on 02-03-19
By: David Fromkin
-
Wilmington's Lie
- The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy
- By: David Zucchino
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the 1890s, Wilmington was North Carolina’s largest city and a shining example of a mixed-race community. It was a bustling port city with a burgeoning African American middle class and a Fusionist government of Republicans and Populists that included black aldermen, police officers, and magistrates. There were successful black-owned businesses and an African American newspaper, The Record. But across the state - and the South - white supremacist Democrats were working to reverse the advances made by former slaves and their progeny.
-
-
HOW TO GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF HOW RACISM HAS BEEN USED AS A TOOL BY WEALTHY
- By Linzay on 06-19-20
By: David Zucchino
-
Confidence Man
- The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America
- By: Maggie Haberman
- Narrated by: Maggie Haberman
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few journalists working today have covered Donald Trump more extensively than Maggie Haberman. And few understand him and his motivations better. Now, demonstrating her majestic command of this story, Haberman reveals in full the depth of her understanding of the 45th president himself, and of what the Trump phenomenon means.
-
-
This is the only one you have to read
- By Amazon Customer on 10-06-22
By: Maggie Haberman
-
The Supermajority
- How the Supreme Court Divided America
- By: Michael Waldman
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean, Michael Waldman - introduction
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Supermajority, Michael Waldman explores the tumultuous 2021–2022 Supreme Court term. He draws deeply on history to examine other times the Court veered from the popular will, provoking controversy, and backlash. And he analyzes the most important new rulings and their implications for the law and for American society. Waldman asks: What can we do when the Supreme Court challenges the country?
-
-
This should be a serialized media presentation, for the return of some normalization of the Supreme Court.
- By Elaine on 06-08-23
By: Michael Waldman
-
The Middle Out
- The Rise of Progressive Economics
- By: Michael Tomasky
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the first half of the twentieth century the Keynesian brand of economics, which saw government spending as a necessary spur to economic growth, prevailed. Then in the 1970s, conservatives fought back. Once they got people to believe a few simple ideas instead—that only the free market could produce growth, that taxes and regulation stifle growth—the battle was won.
-
-
Great for college students who want historical context for where we are today
- By Clea Cloutier on 09-07-22
By: Michael Tomasky
-
The Birth of Classical Europe
- A History from Troy to Augustine
- By: Simon Price, Peter Thonemann
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To an extraordinary extent we continue to live in the shadow of the classical world. At every level, from languages to calendars to political systems, we are the descendants of a “classical Europe,” using frames of reference created by ancient Mediterranean cultures. As this consistently fresh and surprising new audio book makes clear, however, this was no less true for the inhabitants of those classical civilizations themselves, whose myths, history, and buildings were an elaborate engagement with an already old and revered past - one filled with great leaders and writers....
-
-
Excellent overview of the Classical World
- By David I. Williams on 01-12-14
By: Simon Price, and others
-
A Peace to End All Peace
- The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East
- By: David Fromkin
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. Author David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time.
-
-
Still A Great Book On The Topic
- By Nostromo on 02-03-19
By: David Fromkin
-
Wilmington's Lie
- The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy
- By: David Zucchino
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the 1890s, Wilmington was North Carolina’s largest city and a shining example of a mixed-race community. It was a bustling port city with a burgeoning African American middle class and a Fusionist government of Republicans and Populists that included black aldermen, police officers, and magistrates. There were successful black-owned businesses and an African American newspaper, The Record. But across the state - and the South - white supremacist Democrats were working to reverse the advances made by former slaves and their progeny.
-
-
HOW TO GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF HOW RACISM HAS BEEN USED AS A TOOL BY WEALTHY
- By Linzay on 06-19-20
By: David Zucchino
-
Confidence Man
- The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America
- By: Maggie Haberman
- Narrated by: Maggie Haberman
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few journalists working today have covered Donald Trump more extensively than Maggie Haberman. And few understand him and his motivations better. Now, demonstrating her majestic command of this story, Haberman reveals in full the depth of her understanding of the 45th president himself, and of what the Trump phenomenon means.
-
-
This is the only one you have to read
- By Amazon Customer on 10-06-22
By: Maggie Haberman
-
Strongmen
- Mussolini to the Present
- By: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
- Narrated by: Chloe Cannon
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is the expert on the "strongman" playbook employed by authoritarian demagogues from Mussolini to Putin. In Strongmen, she lays bare the blueprint these leaders have followed over the past 100 years, and empowers us to recognize, resist, and prevent their disastrous rule in the future.
-
-
Fascism expert talks fascism
- By sparky on 12-04-20
By: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
-
Working Class Republican
- Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism
- By: Henry Olsen
- Narrated by: Derek Shetterly
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Conventional political wisdom views the two most consequential presidents of the 20th century - FDR and Ronald Reagan - as ideological opposites. FDR is hailed as the champion of big-government progressivism manifested in the New Deal. Reagan is seen as the crusader for conservatism dedicated to small government and free markets. But Henry Olsen argues that this assumption is wrong.
-
-
Refreshing and insightful
- By Thomas Marks on 12-16-19
By: Henry Olsen
-
They Want to Kill Americans
- The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency
- By: Malcolm Nance
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They Want to Kill Americans is the first detailed look into the heart of the active Trump-led insurgency, setting the stage for a second nation-wide rebellion on American soil. This is a chilling and deeply researched early warning to the nation from a counterterrorism intelligence professional: America is primed for a possible explosive wave of terrorist attacks and armed confrontations that aim to bring about a Donald Trump led dictatorship.
-
-
It's informative and frightening
- By Amazon Customer on 07-17-22
By: Malcolm Nance
-
The Shadow Docket
- How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic
- By: Stephen Vladeck
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Supreme Court has always had the authority to issue emergency rulings in exceptional circumstances. But since 2017, the Court has dramatically expanded its use of the behind-the-scenes “shadow docket,” regularly making decisions that affect millions of Americans without public hearings and without explanation, through cryptic late-night rulings that leave lawyers—and citizens—scrambling. But Americans of all political stripes should be worried about what the shadow docket portends for the rule of law, argues Supreme Court expert Stephen Vladeck.
-
-
Where was Vladeck?
- By SorenKMiller on 05-25-23
By: Stephen Vladeck
-
The Midnight Kingdom
- A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis
- By: Jared Yates Sexton
- Narrated by: Jared Yates Sexton
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To fully understand these strange and dangerous times, Jared Yates Sexton takes a hard look at our nation’s history: namely, the abuses committed by those in power and the comforting stories that shaped the way the West has viewed itself up to the present. As reactionaries and authoritarians cling to myths about “Western civilization,” The Midnight Kingdom exposes how political power, religious indoctrination, and economic dominance have been repeatedly weaponized to oppress and exploit, sounding an alarm for what lies ahead as the current order frays.
-
-
A must read
- By Patricia Everett on 05-27-24
-
The Constitution of Knowledge
- A Defense of Truth
- By: Jonathan Rauch
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this pathbreaking book, Jonathan Rauch reaches back to the parallel 18th-century developments of liberal democracy and science to explain what he calls the “Constitution of Knowledge” - our social system for turning disagreement into truth. By explicating the Constitution of Knowledge and probing the war on reality, Rauch arms defenders of truth with a clearer understanding of what they must protect, why they must do - and how they can do it.
-
-
A really good book
- By Will Blakey on 06-25-21
By: Jonathan Rauch
-
Myth America
- Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past
- By: Kevin M. Kruse, Julian E. Zelizer
- Narrated by: Allan Aquino, Maleah Woodley, Todd Menesses, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The United States is in the grip of a crisis of bad history. Distortions of the past promoted in the conservative media have led large numbers of Americans to believe in fictions over facts, making constructive dialogue impossible and imperiling our democracy. In Myth America, Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer have assembled an all-star team of fellow historians to push back against this misinformation.
-
-
Right Wing Bashing book!! Aka a History Book
- By amy on 02-08-23
By: Kevin M. Kruse, and others
-
The Case for Trump
- By: Victor Davis Hanson
- Narrated by: David Lertham
- Length: 20 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Case for Trump, award-winning historian and political commentator Victor Davis Hanson explains how a celebrity businessman with no political or military experience triumphed over 16 well-qualified Republican rivals, a Democrat with a quarter-billion-dollar war chest, and a hostile media and Washington establishment to become president of the US—and an extremely successful president.
-
-
Fascinating!!
- By Wayne on 03-07-19
-
Democracy in Chains
- The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America
- By: Nancy MacLean
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Behind today's headlines of billionaires taking over our government is a secretive political establishment with long, deep, and troubling roots. The capitalist radical right has been working not simply to change who rules but to fundamentally alter the rules of democratic governance. But billionaires did not launch this movement; a white intellectual in the embattled Jim Crow South did.
-
-
A must read if you believe in democracy
- By H. L. Nelson on 10-11-17
By: Nancy MacLean
-
Listen, Liberal
- Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?
- By: Thomas Frank
- Narrated by: Thomas Frank
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is a widespread belief among liberals that if only Democrats can continue to dominate national elections, if only those awful Republicans are beaten into submission, the country will be on the right course. But this is to fundamentally misunderstand the modern Democratic Party. Drawing on years of research and first-hand reporting, Frank points out that the Democrats have done little to advance traditional liberal goals: expanding opportunity, fighting for social justice, and ensuring that workers get a fair deal.
-
-
Wow! Such an eye opener!
- By William R. Brown on 03-24-16
By: Thomas Frank
-
The Conservatarian Manifesto
- Libertarians, Conservatives, and the Fight for the Right's Future
- By: Charles C. W. Cooke
- Narrated by: Charles C. W. Cooke
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is an underserved movement budding among young conservatives in which fiscal responsibility and controlled government spending remain crucial tenets, but issues like gay marriage and drug control are approached with a libertarian bent. The ideas of this growing wave need a public, nuanced voice. The implications for the Republican Party if this philosophy is more widely adopted may not only spur major change within the party but could also revitalize its chances of claiming more power in our government.
-
-
Great resource for a better understanding of Conservatives
- By Luis on 12-03-18
-
Liars
- How Progressives Exploit Our Fears for Power and Control
- By: Glenn Beck
- Narrated by: Jeremy Lowell, Glenn Beck - introduction
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Politics is no longer about pointing to a shining city on the hill; it's about promising you a shiny new car for your driveway. The candidate who tells the people what they want to hear is usually the one who wins - facts be damned. Politicians may be sleazy and spineless, but they're not stupid. They see that the way to win is by first telling people everything that is wrong with the world and then painting a vision of the life they want - a Utopian vision that they'll create right here on earth, one where no one is ever sick or hungry, jobless, or homeless.
-
-
Presented within an excellent historical context.
- By amy stark on 08-29-16
By: Glenn Beck
What listeners say about If We Can Keep It
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
- Kindle Customer
- 03-12-19
What makes America great
An interesting account of historical information that explains how we got to the position we are in today.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Matt
- 07-11-19
a Clarion call to Wake us all
this book lets us know that our democracy is in peril and we must work to defend it
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- marwalk
- 08-01-19
A must read for rectifying today's polarization
For any hope of rectifying today's dysfunctional polarization, this book is a must read. The title says it all, and the author delivers as it promises. Michael Tomasky takes the famous quote of Benjamin Franklin from 1787 and proceeds to answer it at the end, after covering in relevant detail the different ages and stages the US republic has been through. Tomasky highlights the threads and similarities of history to our own time as he traces pivotal events throughout the country's development—we are arguably in the most perilous time of national dissolution since the Civil War. If in reading this book you feel that you've been misled by your history lessons in school, it's because we have all been so misled. Historical players throughout the life of the US were as fully human as any of us are today, complete with both noble and base motives. Today's America has notable similarities to what was chronicled by Alexis de Tocqueville in the Nineteenth Century.
Tomasky shows why the relative political harmony of the 1950s was unique in the country's history, and why the conditions that spawned it no longer exist. The author documents how today's Republican Party is on a war footing—not driven by public opinion but by the wealthy libertarian and theocratic enablers who control them, and the part of the population influenced by the vast network of media and think tanks they've funded at unprecedented levels over the long term. The result has been the creation of gerrymandered districts and conservative judicial packing, crafted to guarantee the imposition of supply side fallacies and irrational hostility toward non-white persons. It's no accident that Trump defends neo-Nazis and other xenophobes, with negligible protest from any Republican who expects to remain in the party.
It's axiomatic that a republic can function only with the active and informed involvement of its citizens. But Tomasky illustrates how too many people are just consumers, and have forsaken their role as citizens. The Democratic Party so far has been an ineffective counter to the war footing of the other side. While debating actual policy issues the Democrats have not pursued a winner take all posture, in spite of the desire of many on the left that they do exactly that. Tomasky (a self declared liberal) postulates that the Democrats do not have enough liberals to form a ruling coalition—and they will need to include moderates under their tent to achieve the number of legislators and other elected officials necessary to govern (as long as Republicans lack any impulse toward bipartisanship).
Even if there were a series of electoral blue waves, Tomasky proffers the sobering thought that saving the republic will be a long term endeavor. And it will necessarily require that Americans in different parts of society get to know one another personally as fellow human beings. The author's list of recommendations is long (and I think reasonable), but he cautions that achieving them will face formidable opposition—even so, we should pursue them nonetheless. For example, one recommendation involves ranked choice at large voting for seats in the House of Representatives. Suppose a hypothetical state has 10 congressional seats, and they are currently gerrymandered to deliver 8 of them to the Republicans when 65% of the total vote statewide goes to Democrats. In ranked choice voting, a candidate must abandon a winner take all campaign approach, as that candidate will need to court support from other voters who might rank that candidate as their second choice—which might make the difference between getting a seat in the House and not. This would result in reduced radicalism and more accommodation of different interests, and actually providing representation for thousands who are currently unrepresented in gerrymandered winner take all single member districts.
One of the most hopeful signs Tomasky observes is a movement among corporate executives on their own toward social responsibility. The concern for only share holder profits and nothing else that was advocated by Milton Friedman is finally wearing thin. Corporate executives are the one group that could have some credibility with conservative voters. Let us wish them well in this endeavor—for the sake of the country, and humanity.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mike Shelby
- 03-29-19
Republican MONSTERS broke our politics.
This analysis is spot on how "conservatives" have colluded to ruin the American Way! TRAITORS!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Roy Roebuck
- 12-03-22
Excellent for those seeking to preserve democracy.
History of our natural and evolving polarization, #neofeudalism's attack on democracy and the republic, and some attainable solutions.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John W Medina
- 06-08-19
Worthless washed-up embittered democrat screed
Rarely have I heard a historian so blatantly and comfortably allow his political biases color his interpretation of facts. His premise that political polarization used to be intra-party rather than inter-party is just flat out historically unfounded. His further, politically motivated, attribution of all polarization to Republicans is historically blind. I will never again read anything written by this hack. Why would I subject myself to his seething propaganda?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Greg King
- 09-24-19
So left it defies credibility
It is apparently way too hard for this author to balance the narrative. Had he done so he might earn the attention to which he believes he’s entitled.
This is a poorly disguised attempt to shame Republicans. Classic shame game without balance.
Too bad
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Buck from Montana
- 10-21-20
Liberals???????????
I'm sure this type of think has been productive within many of our institutions but in my opinion it's an attempt to rewrite history and denounce freedom
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!