Illiberal America: A History

by Steven Hahn

If your reaction to the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol was to think, 'That’s not us,' think again: in Illiberal America, a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian uncovers a powerful illiberalism as deep seated in the American past as the founding ideals. A storm of illiberalism, building in the United States for years, unleashed its destructive force in the Capitol insurrection of January 6, 2021. The attack on American democracy and images of mob violence led many to recoil, thinking “That’s not us.” But now we must think again, for Steven Hahn shows in his startling new history that illiberalism has deep roots in our past. To those who believe that the ideals announced in the Declaration of Independence set us apart as a nation, Hahn shows that Americans have long been animated by competing values, equally deep-seated, in which the illiberal will of the community overrides individual rights, and often protects itself by excluding perceived threats, whether on grounds of race, religion, gender, economic status, or ideology. Driven by popular movements and implemented through courts and legislation, illiberalism is part of the American bedrock. The United States was born a republic of loosely connected states and localities that demanded control of their domestic institutions, including slavery. As white settlement expanded west and immigration exploded in eastern cities, the democracy of the 1830s fueled expulsions of Blacks, Native Americans, Catholics, Mormons, and abolitionists. After the Civil War, southern states denied new constitutional guarantees of civil rights and enforced racial exclusions in everyday life. Illiberalism was modernized during the Progressive movement through advocates of eugenics who aimed to reduce the numbers of racial and ethnic minorities as well as the poor. The turmoil of the 1960s enabled George Wallace to tap local fears of unrest and build support outside the South, a politics adopted by Richard Nixon in 1968. Today, with illiberalism shaping elections and policy debates over guns, education, and abortion, it is urgent to understand its long history, and how that history bears on the present crisis. 8 pages of illustrations

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, American History, American, Audiobook, The United States Of America

464 pages, Hardcover

First published March 19, 2024

About the author

Steven Hahn is the Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor in American History at the University of Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Ally Castellano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illiberal America is a groundbreaking work of history that challenges the myth of American exceptionalism. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Steven Hahn argues that illiberalism has been a deep-seated and recurring feature of American society since its founding.

Hahn traces the history of illiberalism from the early days of the republic, when slavery was enshrined in the Constitution, to the present day, when we are witnessing a renewed assault on democracy. He shows how illiberalism has been used to justify the exclusion and oppression of marginalized groups, including Native Americans, African Americans, immigrants, Catholics, and religious minorities.

A sobering reminder that the ideals of liberty and equality have always been contested in America. But it is also a hopeful book, for it shows that Americans have repeatedly overcome illiberalism in the past. Hahn argues that by understanding the history of illiberalism, we can better resist its resurgence in the present day.

An essential read for anyone who wants to understand the current political climate in the United States. It is a deeply researched and thought-provoking book that will challenge your assumptions about American history.

A powerful reminder that democracy is fragile and must be constantly defended.

[Avery · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was pretty disappointing. I was hoping it would argue for the relevance of illiberalism as a category in understanding American history. Instead it is mostly a scattershot, episodic narrative about various reactionary movements and moments in American history.

I don't know why illiberalism was chosen as the framework rather than simply reaction, conservatism, fascism, etc. (Or even liberalism itself!) It's never really argued for. The dots aren't well-connected, and some of his examples of illiberalism, like the New Deal, I found ridiculous.

If the point of this was to show that Trumpism has roots in American history, well, we already knew that. I was hoping for something a little more interesting.

[Brandon Westlake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illiberal America is a great book that looks at the counternarrative of liberalism, and how this idea has proved to be a strong current throughout the country's history. The strongest chapters are on the revolutionary period, about those who in America who did not agree to the liberal project laid out in the Declaration and subsequent Constitution. I really also found a lot to like with Hahn's framing about the 1960s. His focus on George Wallace synthesizes a lot of recent work on racism and populist politics. Any good examination of that pivotal decade should include a look at this illiberal force that ends up finding strength into the 1970s. Of course, the end of this writing addresses the January 6 storming; Hahn makes the case that this is not totally an aberration. After all, while the biggest, it is not the first time that violence has been conducted at the Capitol.

Hahn's writing is succinct and readable, appealing to popular readers and academics alike. His narrative provides an important piece of historical understanding regarding the relationship between political ideals and Americans' actions.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was good, but I had hoped it would be great. Hahn pulls out lots of interesting movements, both social and political, to illustrate his thesis, but it was almost all things I already knew and the book suffered some from stretching the term "illiberal" to cover an extremely wide range of politics.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and W. W. Norton & Company for the Digital ARC of this book.

First off I learned so much from reading this book and I'm so excited it exists in the world and will be published in the beginning of next year.

This book lays the way in which from the beginning of the colonialization of the United States until the previous president how the people in charge of making the laws and were in power mode sure that they stayed in power.

It goes step by step, from the writing of constitution and the very particular word choice to pointing out that Honest Abe wasn't really all that you were lead to believe.

You will learn through time how over and over again as much history has been written to dangle a shiny object in front of you to turn your attention away from the blatant actions our government is constantly taking while trying to convince us it's for our best interest.

I highly recommend this book and it will definitely open your mind (if it wasn't already there) and the abundance of footnotes will expand your TBR to no avail.

[Lisa Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, that was depressing. Hahn goes back through American history and shows how the values that most of us assume have always actively competed with darker ones. Illiberal ideas have played an important part in the development of the US.
Unfortunately, what seems to be the rise of illiberal ideas in recent times is really not surprising considering the background. Even when something happens that seems to push America towards liberal values, there is always a direct reaction by Americans who want the opposite.
What does this mean for the future? Surely, we need to face what we are before we can become what we imagine ourselves to be at our best.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent read, one I would recommend to anyone interested in current events or politics.

Interesting parts:

I had read little about Lincoln's relationship with Indigenous Americans, because any writing about Lincoln is usually focused on the Civil War. I was struck by the genuine venom in his characterizations of them.

It was fascinating to learn about 18th-19th debates over what constitutes a good penal system, when the assumptions of the debate and the apparent possibilities were so different from now, though the debate remains vehement.

I had never really considered the similar impulses behind progressivism's and fascism's visions for social engineering in the early 20th century, but Hahn makes an interesting case.

I live in Tuscaloosa, home to the University of Alabama, so I'm familiar with Governor Wallace. But I did not know how much support he had in the Northeast and Midwest while running for president. I usually see him described in a totally southern context.

The main idea of this book that really resonated for me is the different conceptions of human rights vs community based rights.

I often find the beliefs of conservative people a little baffling despite being a southerner and making a genuine effort to understand them better (not that they extend the same courtesy to us libtards lol, but I can't help wanting to figure it out)

I think a big key is I've been so inculcated with a 21st century idea of individual human rights as the cornerstone of a decent society, that I forget many people never bought into that idea. Some are still very much in favor of organizing society into communities with strict hierarchies and rules for belonging, where your neighbors can revoke not your “rights” but your privileges of membership.

I can understand fear of an over powerful government but why do so many people that fear statism favor a world where your neighbors' opinions restrict your life possibilities so much? Sounds like a nightmare to me.

Anyway. I appreciate the glimmer of hope and an alternative path forward described in the epilogue. I do not think those developments will happen in the near future or perhaps ever, depending on how much damage Trump and crew manage to do. But I am glad the author didn't sort of “let us off the hook” by arguing it's futile.

4 / 5 stars.

[Caleb Lagerwey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book the further I got into it: the initial chapter on post-war liberalism was a bit confusing since it didn't clearly distinguish classical liberalism and liberalism as a school of historiography. The subsequent chapters got more focused as Hahn highlighted anti-democratic or xenophobic or racist movements. I learned a few interesting tidbits along the way, including that the Second KKK of the 1910s supported (white) women's suffrage and that there was an extensive system of antebellum convict labor that continued during [and, more famously, after] the Civil War. The last few chapters on people like David Duke were especially insightful, not because they were novel, but because Hahn's analysis ties the alleged fringes to more mainstream characters.

[Joseph Stieb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes important overall points, and it's admirable in its scope. However, I also found it frustrating and tedious in a few ways. The thesis is that there are deep illiberal strains in US political and social history that A. often constitute alternative ways of living/organizing a society than liberalism and/or B. are often intertwined with things we normally consider to be straightforwardly liberal. This is a challenge to the Hartzian idea of America as an essentially liberal society from the beginning (an idea which I thought was basically dead in the historiography. I suppose this book is a final nail in the coffin).

Let's take each of these in turn. A: America has deeply illiberal strains in its politics and culture that run to the present day. THe original colonies were neo-feudal and highly hierarchical in terms of race/gender/class. Religious freedom was always somewhat conditional and partial for groups like Catholics, Mormons, Muslims, etc. Slavery and other forms of coerced labor have persisted throughout much of our history. Other elements of U.S. society on both the left and the right have pursued more communalist, hierarchical, traditional, etc ways of living that are often incompatible with liberalism. An understanding of the US as a fundamentally white nation has been a deep and persisting thread in our history. And there's also a decent amount of autocratic politics running from the original colonies to the Jim Crow South to the modern MAGA movement. As a side note, I thought it very odd that Hahn didn't spend more time on the ideology of the Slave South (figures like DeBow, Calhoun, and Hammond), which was explicitly illiberal and largely anti-democratic.

B: Possibly the more interesting theme of this book was that liberals in American history have their illiberal sides. The Founders, while not really liberals in the modern sense, had obvious limits on the kinds of freedom and equality they would accept. Early Republicans were deeply anti-Catholic and often quite nativist. Hahn's chapter on the progressives is excellent, as people like Croly, Wilson, and Lippmann turned away from the individualism that marked much of the US political tradition in favor of a top-down, managerial approach to increasingly complex social and economic problems. He shows that the more fascist-curious period of US history was really the 1910s-1920s, which combined progressive mangerialism with eugenics, nativism, the crushing of left-wing movements, a resurgence in racial violence, the second Klan, and a downturn in voting. Groups like the American Legion and American Protective League were very close to being fascists, and many progressives looked with favor upon aspects of fascist Italy in particular. Later, liberalism was more than compatible with things like mass incarceration and neoliberal attempts to weaken union and empower firms(Hahn also could have talked about liberal imperialism).

(purely liberal society-lacking a comparative lens) Hahn makes all these points ably and thoroughly. His second chapter on the historiography of the liberal tradition and its many critics is outstanding, particularly if you are a graduate student . It is clear that Hahn has marshaled the full knowledge of his illustrious career as a historian to write this book.

But I also found some things to disagree with. First, much of this discussion seemed to posit a theoretical, and probably impossible, perfect liberal society without any coercion of hierarchy. Of course liberals like Bill Clinton or Barack Obama aren't perfectly liberal, just as conservative Republicans are perfectly conservative. Second, following from the first critique, I think a little global comparative perspective would have helped this book. Yes, both the colonies and US society are not as liberal as we would like to think; liberalism is one but far from the only paradigm of our society and politics. But when you look at the US in global comparison, we were more open, democratic, tolerant, and liberal than much of the world, and the net movement has been toward more of these things. Scholars like Gordon Wood have emphasized this, and observers like de Tocqueville marveled at it when they visited. Hartz explicitly wrote The Liberal Tradition in a global comparative perspective, arguing among other things that the United States did not develop an entrenched hereditary aristocracy like most EUropean societies and much of the rest of the world.

Finally, Hahn injects some of his personal politics into the later chapters, which I thought led to some less than cogent analyses. This happens a lot among historians as they approach the present day, present company included. So anyways, this book is useful but not wholly convincing. Given that it's rather long and written in a fairly academic style, I would recommend it to graduate students and scholars working in U.S. political and social history but not to a general reader.

[Yoda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Pretty Average Introduction and Survey to America’s Illiberal History

This reviewer has spent the past few months (this review was written in July 2025) trying to get an intellectual grip on how Donald Trump won the 2024 election, despite his clear and obvious authoritarian personality, tendencies, words and, most importantly, actions. Then, in a bookstore, the reviewer read the back cover of this books which read, in part, “Today, with illiberalism shaping elections and policy debates over guns, education, and abortion, it is urgent to understand its long history, and how that history bears on the present crisis”. Hence the reviewer thought it would provide an answer as to how President Trump was elected.

Unfortunately, this reviewer was sorely disappointed. The book provides a fairly broad survey of illiberal tendencies in the colonies and the US, from the 1600s until today, but there are a number of problems. One is that the book does not really add anything to this history that has not been said a thousand times before. There is practically nothing that anyone, with even a moderate knowledge of US history, would not know.

More importantly, the author does not make show the causal road as to how this history lead directly to Mr. Trump coming to power. This is especially a problem in two regards. One is that by just about any standard, over the course of the very long-term (i.e. past two centuries, if not more), illiberalism has been on the decline as indicated by any quantitative definition (i.e., number of lynching, increasing voting enfranchisement, greater civil rights and less ethno or racially based discrimation, etc., etc., etc.). It is not as if illiberalism has been increasing eventually leading to Trump.

There have been many factors that have contributed to Trump (as well as rising support for extremist parties [Alternative for Germany, Le Pen in France, etc.] in many developed nations) such as economic distress of increasingly large portions of the electorate, higher income instability for that same portion of the population, psychological stress resulting not only from economic reasons but psychological thanks to the undermining of religion, family, and many other pillars of society. Of these, the author Mr. Steven Hahn, only very, very briefly touches upon the economic factors and does not even touch on the others.

In short, the book provides a very (and too) basic survey of illiberalism in America (for many readers) over the past four centuries and practically no explanation as to how we have come to this point. A two – three star book, at the very best.

[Mark Stidham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This history is well organized and clearly written. Be prepared to feel shocked at the true picture of American history. Why is it shocking? It is because the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights are the story we tell ourselves about our history. But the truth is not hidden about all of the violation of those ideals. We know the U.S. government violated treaty after treaty with native Americans. And that's the good story. The European invaders were rarely respectful either government or of human rights for the natives. Similarly, the abomination of slavery was justified with white supremacy brutality. It is a violent and murderous history of right by might.
The history of Jim Crow is also well known, but perhaps less well known is slave labor in the post Civil War by incarceration. Anyone unable to find work was susceptible to vagrancy laws that allowed arrest and then forced and unpaid labor. Sounds a lot like slavery. All of this is illiberalism is not taught, and the school children are left with the wrong impression of American history.
The list goes on through the 20th century with eugenics, and now the 21st century, when Americans elect not once but twice Donald Trump, a white supremacist dictator in chief who would arrest, deport, prosecute, and otherwise overpower anyone who does not suit him.
The conclusion of the book is somewhat hopeful, holding that the history has its liberal side as well. Rights of free speech, assembly, religion, etc. But even there, the illiberal groups today would have some form of Christianity as a state religion, and our current antipathy towards non-citizens and immigrants would brutalize without check. The point is that liberal ideals of justice, equality, humanity, and respect are not a given in any country or time, and that an illiberal, bullying element will always challenge the liberal ideals.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent history book. The first seven chapters are rather amazing, which reveal of liberal and illiberal tendencies commingle such as abolitionism yet support for prisons, the right for abortion based upon racist eugenic premises, and the support of fascism within a democracy during the 1920s and 1930s. Perhaps some of the best chapters concern colonial America where seeming contradictions abound with resistance against local governors and senators yet support of King George. Later chapters from the 1960s onwards have been well-covered by other historians like Elizabeth Hinton, Kathleen Belew, and numerous others. In many ways, Hahn is not saying anything new that any historical materialist was abundantly aware of: ideology has many contradictions that we our sense of selves together. However, he provides intriguing specificity of how this manifests itself in the United States and our present moment of illiberalism. As a cultural scholar, however, popular culture very much reveals this tension between the liberal and illiberal, which I would argue probably accounts for much of the popularity of the television show *Yellowstone*, which appeals to people across wide array of political spectrums where conservatives can see it as a defense of their life and rugged individualism while liberals can see it as a critique of power and clannishness simultaneously. Most valuable, the book offers a long historical trajectory about how illiberalism and liberalism defined the United States long before it became a republic and will continue informing our cultural and political imaginary until alternative paths are more rigorously envisioned.

[Barry Smirnoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is some what chronological history of the rightwing movements in America. The term illiberal is used to describe a number of features that are considered to be related to fascism: racism, macho paternalism hyper-masculinity, militarism, anti-communist and violent Christian-nationalism. These traits are analyzed along with the counter-movements that provoke these authoritarian groups. Confederate ideas are percolating into the whole country and they are anti-catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-woke, anti-immigrant, pro-gun, anti-fair housing, anti-busing, anti-government and anti-tax! It is quite a list and the Red staters will hate it! The Trump America Firsters have roots in oligarchs from the founding of the republic. They claim to be a Protestant whiteman’s country and they do not want to support those who are not contributing to making wealth! They think the Country has been going in the wrong direction since the 14th Amendment and want it repealed. Trump has united all the right-wing nuts from Birchers to Militias, from the religious right to Milton Friedman. Destroy the New Deal, civil rights, and all the government needs to do is protect private property and maintain the empire! Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Native and Pacific Islanders and all other religions need not apply for citizenship.

[Alex Gruenenfelder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an exploration of the history of illiberalism in the United States, showcasing how recent many of our supposed longstanding norms and traditions toward democracy really are. Beneath the surface of "liberal universalism," the author argues, "exclusionary impulses [have always] been at play." The role of prejudice and violence in the history of American politics is explored in extensive detail, something that I often found rather dense but also all too relevant at this moment in time. It additionally explores various forms of coercion, forced labor, and subjugation in our nation's past that we rarely touch on.

The essential argument the author makes is that healthy political pluralism and liberalism are relatively recent, documenting the strong frequency of violence and threats of it in the centuries that America has grown. The book is also a detailed history of religious persecution within the United States, something that I had not seen explored in this much depth and with such sympathetic research. As our nation reels from this violent era that we are currently living in politically, a book like this is a lengthy and perhaps depressing piece to explore, but it is also one that leaves no stone unturned and I appreciated it for that.

[Eric Folley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hahn’s basic idea seems pretty obvious: there has been an illiberalism that has existed in America from the very beginning. Slavery, of course. And the Trail of Tears, Southern Redemption, right-wing populism, etc. But also the Progressive’s eugenics movement, various strains of the New Deal, and Clintonian Neo-liberalism.

While the idea may be obvious, Hahn’s exploration of this bit of intellectual history shows just how widespread and ingrained this set of ideas has been (and is). Granted, sometimes things can get a little fuzzy, where illiberalism seems to be a placeholder for "this was bad." But I couldn’t help but feel by the end of the book that we are not, in fact, living in exceptional times — we are just seeing the latest iterations of ideas that have been with us since the start.

There is a lot to keep track of in this book — the people, places, and ideas come at you fast. But among the trees I gradually came to see a forest. For the story of illiberal America is the story of the production and reproduction of hierarchies — racist, classist, sexist — that were held to be natural and good. As in: Some people are not capable of governing themselves so they must be governed by others for their own good. Wealth and property are marks of a superior intelligence and character, and the people so marked should be the ones to make the important political and economic decisions. The family is the basis of our society’s structure and cohesion, and women must accept their subservient role to enable the family to perform its vital function.

Illiberalism is all about celebrating hierarchies, but liberalism isn’t much better in that regard. Liberalism tends to satisfy itself too easily with formal equalities, and then finds itself seduced by the latest repackaging of illiberal ideas (remember The Bell Curve?). Political democracy paired with a quite undemocratic market economy is an unstable combination, and this intellectual half-measure leaves it vulnerable to illiberal counter-attack.

But if liberalism isn’t the answer to illiberalism, what is? In the conclusion of the book, Hahn looks back at the history of the labor and civil rights movements to find a kind of collective action that avoids both reified hierarchies and the formalized prioritization of the rights-bearing individual. These kinds of cooperative movements have been with us since the beginning as well, and they’ve been suppressed by illiberal and liberal forces alike. Perhaps it is time we gave solidarity another chance. How would that work exactly? It’s time to find out.

[Ross Mckinney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting and somewhat dry account of Illiberal and neoliberal trends in American history, essentially making the case that Trump's ascendency fits into a patterns well established in American history, particularly from the 19th and 20th centuries. It's an interesting read - it took a while to build momentum, but as the various themes began to become coherent and interwoven it became a more engaging book. One of several books I've read that explain the precedents for our current situation. Recommended for policy geeks

[Paul Narvaez · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

I have nothing to bad to say about this exhaustive account of the two currents running through American political thought (and world political thought). It refreshed my understanding of many historical events, I once encountered but didn't really connect to the broader whole in this systematic way. It's a good roadmap.

In a nutshell, Trumpism has always been here, from the founding. Perhaps, we just weren't paying attention (or were ignorant of) our own history.
It's nothing new.

[Betty Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read, especially those who support the effort to make America great again. The author takes pains to explain but yes, America was great in the past in various periods of art time but the question had to be asked. It was great for home. The author of this book goes back through our history from the very beginning the colonial period to present day, and describes various strategies to maintain power and prestige.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professor Hahn makes a compelling case that Mr. tRump is simply continuing the longstanding American traditions of illiberalism The book starts slowly but really picks up steam with the Klan in the 1920s. and by the time we reach the current era, it's clear that tRump has simply rekindled the hate and bigotry that was always just beneath the surface. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[Eduardo Sánchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal book that challenges the popular history taught of the United States as one of ever-progressing liberalism. Hahn instead unveils the curtain to show the true history of the United States as an ever-lasting push-and-pull between the forces of liberalism and illiberalism and how intertwined they can be throughout various points in our country's history. In today's age, understanding this history is more important than ever.

[Susu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weighing liberal traditions versus illiberal tendencies throughout US history up until Trump´s first presidency - an interesting read demonstrating the internal struggles the rest of the world might overlook. Loads of references that I had to follow up on ... not an easy read. And it makes the current deconstruction of democracy in Trump´s second term a mere consequence of long standing tendencies

[Amy Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent history of illiberalism that puts paid to any idea that it’s some sort of new phenomenon born with Trump’s ride down that escalator. The fact is that illiberalism is part of America (if not the only part). What seems new is but what we’ve seen time and time again, this time with a new hat!

[Steve Robitaille · Rating 5 out of 5]

American History Writ Well and Unsparing

Between these covers insights into America’s past that shine a probing light into our uncertain future. You can’t read this book and easily turn your head to the damning revelation that you weren’t warned that the price for not knowing history, or ignoring it, is to be future’s pawn.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough history of the long sad history of denying rights to different groups in the US and otherwise deviating from the ideals of democracy. I appreciated the long view and this filled in many gaps, plus there were a few surprises (Margaret Sanger, champion of birth control, was a eugenicist), but I would have liked more interpretation of the present in light of the past.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the founding myth of the United States, there has always been a strong, tenacious strain in the American fabric that is skeptical of the open democratic project. America has always been divided along fissures of race, religion and class, with people willing to exploit that divide for political gain. This history explores those threads through time up to the present day.

[Ivi · Rating 5 out of 5]

the sort of episodic history composed really shines a light into the far right iliberal thought, political theory and practice. showing really well how iliberalism has been building it self up through more than a century

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very helpful to read if you're wondering how we got to this point. It's a parallel alternate story to the populist history of the U.S., and gets into how the appeals of authoritarianism have been with us for a long time in various stages.

[Tyler J Hinds · Rating 4 out of 5]

8.6

[Giana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched and a very interesting read, though I feel like Hahn could've done a slightly better job tying things back to his thesis to create a more cohesive narrative

[Kate Richardson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perfectly fine book, it just didn't include anything I didn't already know and seems to be aimed more at establishment academics.