Join Open Democracy Book Club on September 15 at 7pm Eastern as we welcome Dennis Michael Burke and his newest book Love and Democracy, to the Book Club for conversations and Q&A!

Political organizer, strategist and writer Dennis Michael Burke, who originated the first I Voted stickers now used nationally and has won important campaign finance and gerrymandering reforms via ballot issues, describes his remarkable road adventures with heroes of American democracy, most notably Doris "Granny D" Haddock, the 90-year-old New Hampshire woman who walked across the US to successfully advance McCain's campaign finance reform bill. The Gandhi-inspired efforts of Haddock and others helped teach Burke how to win against the political Far Right—lessons he shares in these stories.

Dennis has pursued remarkable stories from interesting people worldwide—from bank robbers to the president of the World Bank, and from the Congo to his own Arizona. He has been published multiple times by Random House, Little Brown, and other publishers. Burke’s first two historical fiction novels, Diary of the Tiger Woman, set in 1922 Los Angeles, and A Place for Our Rain, set in the Southwest of 1911, arise from the real stories of his family’s deep history in the American Southwest.

The book is available from local booksellers, but you can order it directly from us!  Click HERE for purchase options.

In Corporatocracy, Ciara Torres-Spelliscy reveals the role corporations play in this dire state of political affairs, and explains why and how they should be held accountable by the courts, their shareholders, and citizens themselves. Drawing on key Supreme Court cases, Torres-Spelliscy explores how corporations have, more often than not, been on the wrong side of history by working to undermine democratic norms, practices, and laws. From bankrolling regressive politicians to funding ghost candidates with dark money, she shows us how corporations subvert the will of the American people, and how courts struggle to hold them and corrupt politicians accountable.

Corporations have existed far longer than democracies have. If voters, consumers, and investors are not careful, corporations may well outlive democracy. Corporatocracy brings all of these shadowy tactics to light and offers meaningful legal reforms that can strengthen and protect American democracy.

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is a professor teaching courses in Election Law, the First Amendment, Corporate Governance, Business Entities, and Constitutional Law.

Prior to joining Stetson's faculty, Professor Torres-Spelliscy was counsel in the Democracy Program of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law where she provided guidance on the issues of money in politics and the judiciary to state and federal lawmakers. She was an associate at Arnold & Porter LLP and a staffer for Senator Richard Durbin.

Available at your local book store (Hardcover 32.00, also available in audio): 

Gibson's Bookstore, 45 South Main St., Concord, NH 03301  603-224-0562 Needs to be ordered

Main Street BookEnds of Warner, 16 East Main St., Warner, NH 03278 (603) 456-2700 Needs to be ordered

Toadstool Bookstores, 12 Depot St., Peterborough, NH 03458   (603) 924-3543  Needs to be ordered

Water Street Bookstore, 125 Water Street, Exeter, NH 03833 (603) 778-9731  Needs to be ordered

In 2020, in some of the darkest days of the COVID pandemic, one of our Open Democracy Team members proposed an "Open Democracy Book Club." To our surprise, 300 citizens registered for the first book and discussion in January. Certainly, the pandemic gave us some time at home to read, but the hunger to learn about the problems and how to fix them was there already. Our Book club now has more than 900 members!

Our Mission

We ask three guiding questions about our democracy through the books chosen:

Where are we?

How did we get here?

What do we do about it?

Help us select Open Democracy Book Club’s 2026 selections - here!

Four times a year we read and discuss a new book. When possible, we have the author speak for 30 minutes. Then we are divided into breakout rooms for small group discussions, returning to the main group at the end to share ideas and pool resources. Everyone is welcome to participate, whether or not you have had a chance to read the book.

To Join the Book Club - Sign Up Below

You will be added to the Open Democracy Book Club email list, where members receive updates about upcoming books, guests, and discussion questions.

Our next book:

On Thursday, June 18 at 7pm, we will be joined by author Ciara Torres-Spelliscy for a discussion of her book,

Corporatocracy: How to Protect Democracy from Dark Money and Corrupt Politicians

Details and RSVP HERE

Previous Books  (recordings of most can be found on our YouTube channel)

• Tuesday, April 21, 2026 The Hard Work of Hope*, by Michael Ansara
• Thursday, January 15, 2026 In Defiance: 20 Abolitionists You Were Never Taught in School*, by Tom Weiner & Amilcar Shabazz
• Tuesday, October 14, 2025 Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right*, by Anne Nelson
• Thursday, June 12, 2025 Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos*, by Russ Muirhead
• Tuesday, April 15, 2025 100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting*, by Miles Rapoport
• Thursday, February 13, 2025 Tyranny of the Minority*, by Stephen Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
• December 11, 2024 Democracy Awakening*, by Heather Cox Richardson
• September 24, 2024 Democracy in Black, by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr
• April 11, 2024 Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy*, by Jamie Raskin
• January 16, 2024 The Scheme: How the Right Wing Used Dark Money to Capture the Supreme Court, by Sheldon Whitehouse and Jennifer Mueller
• September 14, 2023 Becoming A Democracy, How We can Fix the Electoral College, Gerrymandering and Our Elections* by Kristin Eberhard
• June 13, 2023 One Person, No Vote by Carol Anderson
• April 13, 2023 Who Stole The American Dream?*  Hedrick Smith
• January 17, 2023 Democracy Vouchers* by Tom Latkowski
• Sept 15, 2022 Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want* with Frances Moore Lappé & Adam Eichen 
• June 9, 2022 The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
• April 14, 2022  How Democracies Die  by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
• Jan 13, 2022 Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America* with Nancy MacLean
• Oct 14, 2021 Our Time is Now by Stacey Abrams
• May 27, 2021 The Politics of Joy (and Sacrifice): The Fearless Walks and Historic Talks of Doris ‘Granny D’ Haddock*, a compilation of inspiring speeches given by Doris with Dennis Burke
• Apr 15, 2021 They Don't Represent Us* with Lawrence Lessig
• March 4, 2021 Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy* with David Daley
• January 21, 2021 Corporations are Not People: Reclaiming Democracy from Big Money and Global Corporations* with Jeff Clements

*Denotes author participation

Recordings of previous book club meetings here.

Carol Shea-Porter, Chair. – former member of Congress (D-NH); politics and history teacher; founder of a non-profit social service agency

John Broderick – former Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court; former Executive Director of the Rudman Center at University of New Hampshire Law School

Brad Cook – partner and past President of Sheehan Phinney Law Firm; Chair of the New Hampshire Ballot Law Commission

Lew Feldstein – past President of the NH Charitable Foundation; co-author of Better Together: Restoring the American Community

Paul Hodes – former member of Congress (D-NH); attorney; member, National Council on the Arts; founder of the Economic Innovation Institute

Joe Magruder – former News Editor, Associated Press of New Hampshire

Lillye Ramos Spooner – Director of Operations for Greater Manchester AIDS Project; former member of the NH Commission on the Status of Women

Stephen Reno – Executive Director of Leadership New Hampshire; former Chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire

John Rauh – former President of Americans for Campaign Reform, now part of Issue One; former Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate

Jim Rubens – entrepreneur; former Republican candidate for U.S. Senate; former New Hampshire state Senator

Betty Tamposi – Assistant Secretary of State under George H.W. Bush; as a state Representative, was Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee; former member of the Board of Governors of the University of New Hampshire

Dan Weeks  – co-owner of ReVision Energy; former Executive Director of Open Democracy

** Affiliations listed for identification purposes only. Advisory Board members serve in their individual capacities.