Civil War by Other Means, America's Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy

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In his new book, Civil War by Other Means, Julian Zelizer lays out the flaws in U.S. democratic institutions. He says they are filled with virtues and elements that allow for innovation but also have flaws as any human institution does. In all of these ways, our democracy is hindered by a false reverence for institutions that actually need to be reformed," he writes.

Jeremi Suri is a historian at UT Austin. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(06:45) – Revolutions and governments
(24:23) – American Civil War
(33:35) – Lincoln and election of 1860
(37:25) – Slavery
(50:35) – Freedom of speech
(1:02:17) – Death toll of the Civil War
(1:05:36) – Ulysses S. Grant
(1:07:45) – Ku Klux Klan
(1:19:27) – Robert E. Lee
(1:27:11) – Abraham Lincoln
(1:42:18) – If the south won
(1:50:54) – Hypocrisy of the Founders
(1:56:56) – John Wilkes Booth
(2:00:11) – White supremacy
(2:05:34) – Disputed elections
(2:15:56) – Politics
(2:24:20) – Donald Trump and Joe Biden
(2:37:06) – January 6th
(3:02:04) – Hope for the future