Democracy in Retrograde: How to Make Changes Big and Small in Our Country and in Our Lives

About the book

Author: Emily Amick and Sami Sage
Publisher: Gallery Books

More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.

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My Review

Democracy in Retrograde is a fun, short, super accessible guide to becoming more civically engaged. I think it tips a little too far in attempting millennial relatability in a few spots (ie, the metaphor of a glass half-full of iced coffee instead of water), but overall, it’s easy to digest in bite sizes and offers some useful tools for thinking about the ways you might derive the most satisfaction from getting involved and presents an excellent case for why you should.

I liked the way Amick and Sage make the case for civic engagement as an antidote to hopelessness and despair — even more timely now, in early 2025, than when they wrote it just after the January 2021 insurrection. Their evidence and conviction is convincing and inspiring. I also really liked the tools they offered, in particular the pragmatist/realist/optimist/pessimist/idealist outlooks and the four activism “personality types,” complete with a Buzzfeed-style quiz. It was a genuinely helpful (albeit slightly cheesy) way to help me assess where my strengths lie, what energizes me the most, and how I might bring that unique mix to my own civic engagement in ways that fit with my real life and are rewarding.

All in all, a quick read that I recommend.