David O. Stewart is the author of five award-winning books of American history, three bestselling historical mysteries and two more historical novels. He’s also the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Washington Independent Review of Books. David’s new book – The Democracy We Must Keep – releases today and in it he focuses on what America’s founders said about democracy and whether Americans can preserve their vision.
Here’s David …
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A few months ago, I faced a problem that demanded a solution.
Political life in the United States seemed to be spiraling out of control: knee-jerk vituperation on all sides, vindictive criminal prosecutions clogging the courts, plus ill-considered government actions announced, reversed, modified, renewed, and abandoned (e.g., ping-ponging tariffs, brutal immigration enforcement, government agencies eliminated and revived, officials fired and rehired). As the spiral seemed to accelerate, Congress maintained its quiet, half-witted ineptitude.
Plus, we were staring down the barrel of America’s 250th Anniversary as a nation on July 4, an event bound to be marked by insincere and unpersuasive celebrations of today’s.
So what was I to do? As the author of four historical works and a novel addressing our Founding Era, I wanted to share what I knew about how difficult the creation of this unique nation had been, about the values that the nation was intended to embody and protect. I wanted to trumpet the insights and hard lessons learned by decent, thoughtful leaders like George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson.
And July 4 drew closer every day.
The solution was right before me: write a SHORT BOOK and muscle it into print before the July 4 anniversary (the semi-quincentennial, a word I have had to learn). It’s a time when people might be looking for some wisdom from the guys who thought this all up.
The book, The Democracy We Must Keep: Seven Founders, Nine Documents, and the Ideas that Shaped America, will launch on May 26. It weighs in at 17,000 words. Early interest in it has been gratifying. In this process, I have learned The Virtues of the Short Book.
I note that fiction writers have known these virtues for centuries. They invented short stories and novellas to take advantage of them. Even some nonfiction writers have known about them. Tom Paine’s Common Sense pamphlet looms large in The Democracy We Must Keep. It consist of only 13,000 words yet was the best-selling American publication in the eighteenth century. Garry Wills built a career largely on works that packed challenging ideas into not-so-many pages. I was slow to absorb the following significant advantages.
- It doesn’t take that long to write a short book, so you can focus, hard, on crafting every sentence.
- The research for a short book doesn’t take that long, either, because there’s no space to include it.
- It doesn’t take that long to read a short book. READERS LIKE THAT. So do reviewers and copy editors, not to mention the friends you might ask to “take a quick look at” an early version.
- Short books are less expensive to publish. PUBLISHERS LIKE THAT.
- Short books don’t cost that much to buy. READERS LIKE THAT, TOO.
Are there downsides to the short book? Of course. They are lousy door-stoppers. They perform poorly as weapons of self-defense, and probably would stop very few bullets when stashed in a breast pocket. Also, you need a great many short books to create proper ballast on a watercraft. That’s about all I can come up with right now.
Will I write more short books? Who the hell knows?
Let’s hear it for the virtues of a short book! Thank you, David and congratulations on your new book. My version of writing short books are the novels I’ve written for my grandchildren. You can’t write a long novel and expect 7-10 year-olds to remain interested.
The Democracy We Must Keep: Seven Founders, Nine Documents, and the Ideas That Created America by David O. Stewart
What did America’s founders say about democracy—and can we remain true to their vision for America?
Two hundred fifty years ago, passionate men attempted to create something the world had never seen before: a nation built not on kings or armies, but on ideas where the people ruled.
In The Democracy We Must Keep, historian David O. Stewart takes readers inside the nine key documents that shaped the formation of the United States—from Patrick Henry’s thunderous cry for liberty to the carefully crafted design of a government chosen by the people, with limits on all officials holding power under the Constitution.
Through the words of seven visionary founders—Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, and others—Stewart shows how a fragile experiment in self-government took shape.
These men were not saints. They argued passionately. They worried that the new nation might fall apart. Yet together, they forged the principles that must still define American democracy.
- That power must be limited.
- That leaders must answer to the people.
- That individual rights must be protected by law.
As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, The Democracy We Must Keep urges readers to rediscover core ideas that built the nation—and to consider what it will take to protect them.
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M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel THAT WAS THEN is a contemporary thriller. Mary’s other novels, THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE, PARIS IN RUINS, TIME AND REGRET, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook or on her website www.mktod.com.
