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 500 members!

Our Mission

 Each time we address these 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 2024 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.

We recently concluded our 2023 season

In January we discussed Democracy Vouchers.  In Democracy Vouchers, Tom Latkowski shares everything you need to know to start championing this transformative campaign finance system in your city and state. The author joined us for the discussion.

In April we were thrilled to welcome bestselling author, Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter and Emmy award-winning producer and correspondent Hedrick Smith to our book club for a discussion of his book Who Stole The American Dream?

Our June book was Carol Anderson's One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy.  Focusing on the aftermath of Shelby, Anderson follows the astonishing story of government-dictated racial discrimination unfolding before our very eyes as more and more states adopt voter suppression laws. 

We rounded out 2023 with Kristin Eberhard joining us to discuss her book Becoming a Democracy: How We Can Fix the Electoral College, Gerrymandering and our Elections.  

Previous Books

• 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 Steealth 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

Recordings of previous book club meetings here.

Doris "Granny D" Haddock and 31 other people were arrested on April 21, 2000, while Granny D was reading the Declaration of Independence in the Capitol Rotunda.

Press releases and C-SPAN coverage from that day decribe the arrests.  

"We no longer have proper representation," Ms. Haddock, the 90-year-old woman who walked across the continent for campaign finance reform, told a press conference on the Senate lawn before she led the group into the Rotunda. "Our elected leaders are consumed by the need to raise election funds from special interests, and they no longer are able to represent the needs of the people or of our ravaged earth. We must declare our independence from the corrupting bonds of big money." 

Granny D's statement at her sentencing still resonates, today.