Critics across the ideological spectrum warn that American democracy is heading toward catastrophe, but also complain that nothing seems to change. The urges to defend the country's foundations and to dismantle them coexist—often within the same people. How did we get here? In a history that runs from the drafting of the Constitution to the storming of the Capitol, Timothy Shenk offers sharp portraits of people who built the electoral coalitions that defined American democracy, including James Madison, Charles Sumner, Phyllis Schlafly, and Barack Obama.