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American democracy has always been a work in progress. What Abraham Lincoln called the unfinished work of ensuring government of the people, by the people, for the people has suffered its share of setbacks. For decades, Americans trust in government has been declining, signaling that not all was well. Yet until recently, democracy seemed secure in the United States.

No longer. President Donald Trump has unleashed a barrage of attacks on the underpinnings of democratic governance, threatening checks and balances, civil liberties, civil rights, and long-established norms. During last years presidential campaign, Trump discarded the notion of facts as necessary anchors of political discourse and challenged the legitimacy of his political opponent, threatening to lock her up if he won. Since his inauguration, he has castigated sections of the mainstream media as fake news and called them the enemy of the American people, attacked the judiciary, and claimedwithout evidencethat electoral fraud cost him victory in the popular vote. These displays of illiberalism suggest that the American project of self-governance, which Americans have long taken for granted, may be in a more precarious condition than most assumed.

How did the United States come to this point? And how can it revitalize its democracy? Two new books offer useful guidance. Democracy for Realists, by the political scientists Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels, helps explain the roots of the current crisis. And Democracy, by the historian David Moss, reveals how Americans have overcome political divisions in the past.

The authors of both books make clear that political conflicts in the United States are nothing new. Today, Americans face serious threats to their countrys democracy, but they can draw on a long tradition of conflict resolution. They should relearn how to use the institutions and toolsleadership, negotiation, and compromisethat have sustained American democracy in the past.

FALLING APART

In Democracy for Realists, Achen and Bartels explain that deep-seated social identities and group affiliations motivate political action far more than

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Democracy on the Brink - Foreign Affairs (subscription)