"Critics across the ideological spectrum warn that the country is heading toward catastrophe but also complain that nothing seems to change. The urges to defend the country's foundations and to dismantle them coexist-- often within the same people. Shenk offers a eye-opening examination of the American political tradition-- and the people who built the electoral coalitions that defined American democracy. We've had moments in our history when popular majorities transformed American life-- and we might have one again." -- Adapted from jacket.