How America Works…and Why It Doesn’t: A Brief Guide to the US Political System by William Cooper.

Cooper validates something we’ve all been feeling lately: that twenty-first-century America isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. He sets out to provide a non-partisan assessment of the ongoing challenges faced by American democracy, explaining key aspects of US political history to give the background to recent, dangerous developments. Cooper also shows how these recent developments have their roots in the deeper past, with the establishment of the political system in the first place and all the knocks and tweaks to it along the way. And he reveals how the US Supreme Court is now exacerbating polarization instead of acting as an effective check on executive power.

WILLIAM COOPER is an attorney, author, and national columnist. His writings have appeared in hundreds of publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek, CNN, Washington Post, and San Francisco Chronicle. He lives in Northern California. Here's what people are saying about his book:

The tragic and inspiring story of the leaders of Outlaw country and their influence on today’s Alt-County and Americana superstars, tracing a path from Waylon Jennings’ survival on the Day the Music Died through to the Highwaymen and on to the current creative and commercial explosion of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Zach Bryan, Jason Isbell, and the Highwomen.

About the Author

Brian Fairbanks was an investigative reporter at Gawker and the Consumerist. He has also written for the Guardian, Business Insider, the New York Observer, Nerve, and many more outlets, and is the author of Wizards: David Duke, America’s Wildest Election, and the Rise of the Far Right.