Thank you, Globe Pequot, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Mr. Book just finished Distorting Democracy: The Forgotten History Of The Electoral College—And Why It Matters Today, by Carolyn Renee Dupont, and contributions by Stephen Clements.

The first section of the book was chapters about how the electoral college originated and dispelling the myths about it being a brilliant invention of the Framers. The next section reviewed how the electoral college evolved into something the Framers never intended, starting very early on its history. The book looks at the elections of 1800, 1812 and 1824 as examples of that—as well as being examples of the kind of scheming and manipulation of the system that were not legitimately democratic elections.

After a chapter on the disastrous election of 1876, there is an excellent look at how the electoral college allowed white supremacist states to inflate their power by using blacks in the state to boost the population, while denying them the vote—just like the slave-holding used the 3/5 clause to inflate their representation in Congress and in the electoral college. The best part of the book came when it showed how the electoral college functions to disenfranchise so many voters all over the country even today. That last discussion was what pushed it over the top from an A to A+, which also entitles it to induction into the Hall of Fame.

Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A+ equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews

Mr. Book originally finished reading this on August 7, 2024.