Overview

A storm of illiberalism, building in the United States for years, unleashed its destructive force in the Capitol insurrection of 6 January 2021. The attack on American democracy and images of mob violence led many to recoil, thinking “That’s not us”. But Steven Hahn shows in his startling new history that illiberalism has deep roots in America's past. To those who believe that the ideals announced in the Declaration of Independence set the United States apart as a nation, Hahn shows that Americans have long been animated by competing values, equally deep-seated, in which the illiberal will of the community overrides individual rights and often protects itself by excluding perceived threats, whether on grounds of race, religion, gender, economic status or ideology. Driven by popular movements and implemented through courts and legislation, illiberalism is part of the American bedrock. The United States was born a republic of loosely connected states and localities that demanded control of their domestic institutions, including slavery. As white settlement expanded west and immigration exploded in eastern cities, the democracy of the 1830s fuelled expulsions of Blacks, Native Americans, Catholics, Mormons and abolitionists. After the Civil War, southern states denied new constitutional guarantees of civil rights and enforced racial exclusions in everyday life. Illiberalism was modernised during the Progressive movement through advocates of eugenics who aimed to reduce the numbers of racial and ethnic minorities as well as the poor. The turmoil of the 1960s enabled George Wallace to tap local fears of unrest and build support outside the South, a politics adopted by Richard Nixon in 1968. Today, with illiberalism shaping elections and policy debates over guns, education and abortion, it is urgent to understand its long history and how that history bears on the present crisis.

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"""In this brilliant and timely book, Steven Hahn reveals the pervasive entanglement of liberal visions and illiberal restraints throughout American history. Usually embattled and frequently compromised, liberal ideals infuriate Americans committed to a stricter policing of boundaries: territorial, sexual, and racial. No recent invention or fundamental heresy, illiberalism has been as American as cherry pie."" -- Alan Taylor, author of American Civil Wars ""Displaying a remarkable command of five centuries of American history, and of the vast scholarship that illuminates it, Steven Hahn transforms our understanding of the multiple traditions embedded in the American past, including a deeply rooted disdain for the ideals of democracy and equality. If you want to understand the historical origins of our present condition, this is the place to start. Illiberal America is an instant classic."" -- Eric Foner, author of The Second Founding ""When the mass shooting in El Paso happened in 2019, I said on national television that 'this is us.' I did not want the nation to absolve itself of the responsibility for the horror of that day. Steven Hahn has written the definitive history of the illiberalism that informs our 'troubles.' Read this book carefully. Understand what we are up against and find the resources in our traditions to fight for the America we want. An indispensable book for these dark days."" -- Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., author of Begin Again ""Steven Hahn's clear-eyed, beautifully written synthesis draws on a sweeping command of the scholarship to cut through sentimentality and offer a remarkable reinterpretation of the country's past. Illiberal America will establish the terms of historical debate for a long while to come."" -- Kim Phillips-Fein, author of City of Fear"

Author Information

Steven Hahn is a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian who studies American political and social movements. His acclaimed works include A Nation Under Our Feet and A Nation Without Borders. He teaches at New York University and lives in New York City and Southold, on Long Island.

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