Readers are to be forgiven if they dread reading this story of self-interested political hacks, secretive politicians, election meddling, resurgent white supremacist governing structures, and general backlash by white conservatives against democratic reforms and the rights of Black people. The book, however, serves as an important reminder that the United States made it through a dark period in American politics eerily similar to that surrounding the election of 2020—the election of 1876. Furthermore, the 2020 election had at least one advantage over its predecessor: Its supervisors (as far as we know) held their ground, defended their honest work, did not skip town, and did not try to benefit financially from their position.
Fairclough knits together the story of the “Stolen Elections of 1876,” a campaign that ended in the betrayal of Blacks in the South, the return to Democratic “home rule,” and a continuation of the violent repression of Black...