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Why the people : the case for democracy
2022
Where is it?
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Publishers Weekly Review
Another excellent addition from Feathers (RE: Constitutions) to the World Citizen Comics line leavens an earnest explainer of democratic governance with enough silliness to make it go down smoothly. Feathers grounds the conceit in the angsty American political moment. Her two female characters--a young white Wisconsinite and a middle-aged Californian daughter of Chinese immigrants--kill time at an airport answering a big, rarely asked question: "What kind of government is the best?" A couple hundred pages later, Feathers has made the case for democracy by astutely and amusingly breaking down alternates. Sidestepping ideological and economic arrangements (there's no communism vs. capitalism debate), she employs historical storytelling using robust examples, with friendly, accessible drawings by Shwed (Fault Lines in the Constitution). Saudi Arabia's modern history showcases the push-pull between royals and reformers in aristocracies, while another section briskly illuminates varieties of "rule with just a few": oligarchy, warlordism, aristocracy, and theocracy. Idi Amin's dominance over Uganda illustrates the destructive forces by dictatorships. The final third of the book is given over to a granular, informative look at how democracy actually functions. Feathers lays out the potential for democratic bad (limitations on voting, threats of populism, corruption) with the good (people governing together by agreeing to shared principles). It's a buoyant but clear-eyed addition to this useful series. (June)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up--Framed as exchanges between two travelers exploring an airport's amenities, this lively overview uses a combination of metaphors and specific examples to compare and contrast select types of authoritarian and consensual governments. Working from the assumption that people will always demand governments that are (or at least seem) predictable, legitimate, and transparent, the survey begins with notions from a variety of ancient philosophers about virtuous rulers and kings. From there, it moves on to food-court-style menus that present different "flavors" of government systems. These include monarchy and dictatorship, theocracies like Iran and the Vatican, oligarchies like the U.S.'s Gilded Age era, and finally an expansive "buffet" of past and present variations of democracies which, given generous dollops of the "secret sauce" of commitment to democratic consensus, can be the most successful and resilient system of all. Using simple cartoon line drawings with blue highlights, Shwed gathers both ordinary citizens and historically prominent figures in the ruled panels to express issues or points of view in support of the main dialogue ("You can't blame the system if people sit on their thumbs"), then closes with a final, helpful summary "menu." VERDICT Not an encyclopedic tally, as the author points out in her afterword, but readers within sight of voting age will come away with lots of useful tools and perspectives.--John Edward Peters
Summary

This witty and well-argued graphic novel is a must-have for anyone wanting to learn what power "we the people" actually have in a democracy.

Why the people?
Is democracy actually the best form of government? Does it ever work like it's supposed to?
Join Lin and Julie in the middle of an airport, as they wonder aloud how America can ever be a democracy when citizens seem to disagree about everything. With them, we are whisked through political history, and journey through different systems of power, including monarchy, theocracy, dictatorship and oligarchy.
Beka Feathers and Ally Shwed shine a bright light on power, justice, and the promise of true democracy.

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