Members of the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) have long published scholarly works that contribute to understanding even the most complex or distressing current events. This week, alongside other AUPresses members, we’re sharing a reading list featuring our publications on the topic of democracy from a range of different disciplines and perspectives. Some works focus specifically on events within the state of Florida while others offer a national or even international perspective.
Heritage and Democracy: Crisis, Critique, and Collaboration
Edited by Kathryn Lafrenz Samuels and Jon D. Daehnke
This volume examines cultural heritage work within the context of both democratic institutions and democratic practices, highlighting how democratic politics and cultural heritage shape, impact, and depend upon one another.
Black Citizens and American Democracy: Fighting for the Soul of a Nation
Edited by Reginald K. Ellis, Jeffrey L. Littlejohn, and Peter B. Levy
This collection examines the important work of Black men and women to shape, expand, and preserve a multiracial American democracy from the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-twentieth century to the present.
Lost Storytellers: The Information Apocalypse in the Modern Newsroom
John Pendygraft
In this firsthand look at the landscape of community news today, photojournalist John Pendygraft uses his own experiences to show why trusted local reporting matters now more than ever, making the case that the decline of local journalism threatens the future of democracy.
The Democracy Machine: How One Engineer Made Voting Possible for All
Jon Silman
Learn the story behind Prime III, an accessible electronic voting system designed for people with disabilities by engineer Juan Gilbert, a specialist in human-centered computing. This GATORBYTE is part of a series that chronicles research, technologies, and innovations from across the University of Florida campus. View all GATORBYTES here.
Florida and the 2016 Election of Donald J. Trump
Edited by Matthew T. Corrigan and Michael Binder
Showing how Donald Trump scored critical victories in Florida in an election cycle that defied conventional political wisdom, this volume offers surprising insights into the 2016 presidential election and forecasts emerging trends in the national political landscape.
Political Thought and the Origins of the American Presidency
Edited by Ben Lowe
This volume examines the political ideas behind the construction of the presidency in the United States Constitution and how these ideas were implemented by the nation’s early presidents, helping to inform discussions surrounding the limits of executive power today.
Democracy and Time in Cuban Thought: The Elusive Present
María de los Ángeles Torres
In this analysis of political discourse in Cuban culture, María de los Ángeles Torres focuses on how the concept of time has been employed by different political projects, arguing that an emphasis on human actions in the present is important for a democratic political culture.
Rómulo Betancourt: His Historical Personality and the Genesis of Modern Democracy in Venezuela
Germán Carrera Damas
Translated by Elizabeth Lowe
Available here for the first time in English, this book discusses a transformational figure in Venezuelan history who overthrew a military dictatorship and established a modern democratic regime, offering insights on what it takes to create and sustain a democratic republic under difficult circumstances.
Alive in Their Garden: The True Story of the Mirabal Sisters and Their Fight for Freedom
Dedé Mirabal
Translated and Edited by Ana E. Martínez and Heather Hennes
In this memoir, Dedé Mirabal offers an intimate account of the lives and legacy of her sisters Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa Mirabal, Dominican revolutionaries who resisted dictator Rafael Trujillo and were assassinated in 1960. This is the first English translation of Dedé’s story, introducing new readers to a tragedy and international outcry that heralded the fall of an oppressive dictatorship.
The Florida Bookshelf 