Finalist, 2016 Ralph Waldo Emerson Award
One of Bustle's Books For Your Civil Disobedience Reading List
Examines the key role dissent has played in shaping the United States, emphasizing the way Americans responded to injustices
Dissent: The History of an American Idea examines the key role dissent has played in shaping the United States. It focuses on those who, from colonial days to the present, dissented against the ruling paradigm of their time: from the Puritan Anne Hutchinson and Native American chief Powhatan in the seventeenth century, to the Occupy and Tea Party movements in the twenty-first century. The emphasis is on the way Americans, celebrated figures and anonymous ordinary citizens, responded to what they saw as the injustices that prevented them from fully experiencing their vision of America.
At its founding the United States committed itself to lofty ideals. When the promise of those ideals was not fully realized by all Americans, many protested and demanded that the United States live up to its promise. Women fought for equal rights; abolitionists sought to destroy slavery; workers organized unions; Indians resisted white encroachment on their land; radicals angrily demanded an end to the dominance of the moneyed interests; civil rights protestors marched to end segregation; antiwar activists took to the streets to protest the nation’s wars; and reactionaries, conservatives, and traditionalists in each decade struggled to turn back the clock to a simpler, more secure time. Some dissenters are celebrated heroes of American history, while others are ordinary people: frequently overlooked, but whose stories show that change is often accomplished through grassroots activism.
The United States is a nation founded on the promise and power of dissent. In this stunningly comprehensive volume, Ralph Young shows us its history.

"Young takes his readers on a scenic, energetic, nonlinear walk from the seventeenth-century American Colonies to the present United States, suggesting all along the way that American history is, by definition, a history of dissent The breadth of the historical account and the level of detail Young offers his readers are inspiring, particularly in an age of what he sees as apathetic, social media-driven & slacktivism and & clicktivism." - American Political Thought

"A must-read for anyone interested in how dissent, protest, and other acts of civil disobedience have shaped the United States, Ralph YoungsDissent: The History of an American Ideais a well-researched, 600-plus page tome that covers both the liberal and conservative movements that changed American history" - Bustle.com

"The Temple University historian Ralph Young's Dissent, a beautifully written, always-interesting, and analytically smart synthesis of American history, contends that dissent has shaped our world from the Puritans to the Barack Obama presidency...Here is wishing Young's big book a shelf life as long as the works of Hofstadter, Williams, and Zinn." - Journal of American History

"For those looking for a most impressive compilation on the history of American dissent,Dissentcertainly delivers in covering all of its intricacies, trajectories, and complexities through decades of discord and centuries of stridency." - Journal of American Culture

"[Young] presents a narrative history of the role of dissent in shaping the United States, foregrounding those who dissented and how Americans have responded to injustices that prevented them from fully experiencing their vision of America." - Journal of Economic Literature

"A broad-ranging, evenhanded view of a tradition honed into an art form in America: the use of dissent as 'a critique of governance'...Young has a knack for finding obscure but thoroughly revealing moments of history to illustrate his points; learning about Fries' Rebellion and the Quasi-War with France is worth the price of admission alone, though his narrative offers much more besides...Refreshingly democraticsolid supplemental reading to the likes of Terkel and Alinsky, insistent on upholding the rights of political minorities even when they're wrong." - Kirkus Reviews

"French historian Alexis de Tocqueville warned about 'the tyranny of the majority' in American democracy. This work deals with that important topic from colonial times to the present. Young brings experience and knowledge to this subject...This history will satisfy fans of Howard Zinn, Pete Seeger, and Allen Ginsberg." - Library Journal

"[An] expansive and...impressive account...[Young] excels in story-telling mode." - Popmatters

"One of the great merits of Youngs book in his nuanced perspective on events and people that are too often reduced to clichés in our collective memory." - Political Science Quarterly

"Temple University historian Young (Dissent in America) delivers a doorstopper that few readers will ever want to misuse in such a manner; his clear and elegant style and a keen eye for good stories make it a page-turner...Young convincingly demonstrates that the history of the United States is inextricably linked to dissent and shows how 'protest is one of the consummate expressions of Americanness.'" - STARRED Publishers Weekly