
Giving Up Is Unforgivable
A Manual for Keeping a Democracy
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Narrated by:
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By:
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Joyce Vance
About this listen
The first book from Joyce White Vance: equal parts civics class, history lesson, and call to save the Republic, Giving Up Is Unforgivable is a political manifesto for our present moment.
“We’re in this together.”
For the past two years, Joyce Vance has signed off posts on her chart-topping Substack, Civil Discourse, with these four words. In that time, she’s guided readers through a continued erosion of democratic norms, the unprecedented felony conviction of an ex-president, and the approaching specter of a second Trump administration. Now that it’s upon us, Vance helps us understand how to avoid burnout and despair and exercise the democratic muscles we need to save the Republic.
Giving Up Is Unforgivable is a clarion call to action—putting our current crisis in historical context and sketching out a vision for where we go next. Vance’s message is hopeful at its heart, even as it acknowledges the daunting challenges that lie ahead. She is the constitutional law professor you never knew you needed, explaining the legal context, the political history, and the practical reasons that the rule of law still matters, while also empowering you to do something—from the small (that conversation you’ve been meaning to have with your uncle or volunteering for your favorite political cause) to the big (starting a grassroots movement or running for political office).
Consider this the birth of a countermovement to Project 2025, a rallying cry for citizen engagement to counter the second Trump administration and save American democracy.
©2025 Joyce Vance (P)2025 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
The government is a vast, complex system that Americans pay for, rebel against, rely upon, dismiss, and celebrate. It’s also our shared resource for addressing the biggest problems of society. And it’s made up of people, mostly unrecognized and uncelebrated, doing work that can be deeply consequential and beneficial to everyone. Michael Lewis invited his favorite writers, including Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, and W. Kamau Bell, to join him in finding someone doing an interesting job for the government and writing about them.
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Imagine what we could achieve if we actually understood
- By Anonymous User on 03-24-25
By: Michael Lewis
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Democracy Awakening
- Notes on the State of America
- By: Heather Cox Richardson
- Narrated by: Heather Cox Richardson
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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At a time when the very foundations of American democracy seem under threat, the lessons of the past offer a road map for navigating a moment of political crisis. In Democracy Awakening, acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson delves into the tumultuous journey of American democracy, tracing the roots of Donald Trump’s “authoritarian experiment” to the earliest days of the republic.
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We’d be in a much better position if everyone read this
- By Jeffrey Schwartz on 10-01-23
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Abundance
- By: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Narrated by: Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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To trace the history of the twenty-first century so far is to trace a history of unaffordability and shortage. After years of refusing to build sufficient housing, America has a national housing crisis. After years of limiting immigration, we don’t have enough workers. Despite decades of being warned about the consequences of climate change, we haven’t built anything close to the clean-energy infrastructure we need. Ambitious public projects are finished late and over budget—if they are ever finished at all.
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Advice to the Democratic Party from Klein & Thompson
- By Betsy Fowler on 03-31-25
By: Ezra Klein, and others
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On Tyranny
- Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
- Length: 1 hr and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.
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History does not repeat, but it does instruct.
- By Darwin8u on 11-19-18
By: Timothy Snyder
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Careless People
- A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
- By: Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Narrated by: Sarah Wynn-Williams
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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From trips on private jets and encounters with world leaders to shocking accounts of misogyny and double standards behind the scenes, this searing memoir exposes both the personal and the political fallout when unfettered power and a rotten company culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative where a few people carelessly hold the world in their hands, this eye-opening memoir reveals what really goes on among the global elite.
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Only a few hours in
- By Cody Konior on 03-24-25
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The Echo Machine
- How Right-Wing Extremism Created a Post-Truth America
- By: David Pakman
- Narrated by: David Pakman
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Known for providing incisive progressive political analysis without being dogmatic, popular radio and podcast host David Pakman delves into the vicious cycle of reactionary political ideology. It's no secret how the right-wing has benefited and capitalized off disinformation and polarization of US politics. Critical thinking and media literacy are on a rapid decline, and our republic is unable to agree upon a shared set of facts. Pakman challenges the right-wing head-on and encourages listeners to understand how the status quo became the status quo.
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An smartly written take on the future of the US
- By Bradley Smith on 04-01-25
By: David Pakman
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Bad Law
- Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America
- By: Elie Mystal
- Narrated by: Elie Mystal
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The New York Times bestselling author brings his trademark legal acumen and passionate snark to offer a brilliant takedown of ten shocking pieces of legislation that continue to perpetuate hate, racial bias, injustice, and inequality today—an urgent yet hopeful story for our current political climate
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The Profanity
- By George A. Ballentine on 04-17-25
By: Elie Mystal
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The Road to Unfreedom
- Russia, Europe, America
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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With the end of the Cold War, the victory of liberal democracy was thought to be absolute. Observers declared the end of history, confident in a peaceful, globalized future. But we now know this to be premature. Authoritarianism first returned in Russia, as Putin developed a political system dedicated solely to the consolidation and exercise of power. In the last six years, it has creeped from east to west as nationalism inflames Europe, abetted by Russian propaganda and cyberwarfare.
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A Key Understanding of Modern Politics
- By Richard Keohane on 04-08-18
By: Timothy Snyder
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Money, Lies, and God
- Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy
- By: Katherine Stewart
- Narrated by: Patricia Rodriguez
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Why have so many Americans turned against democracy? In this deeply reported book, Katherine Stewart takes us to conferences of conspiracy-mongers, backroom strategy gatherings, and services at extremist churches, and profiles the people who want to tear it all down.
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Describes a well funded international fascist cult
- By marwalk on 03-24-25
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All or Nothing
- How Trump Recaptured America
- By: Michael Wolff
- Narrated by: Michael Wolff, Holter Graham
- Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fire and Fury delivers a breathtaking insider account of the 2024 Trump campaign—undoubtedly the wildest, most unpredictable campaign in U.S. history, including multiple criminal trials, two assassination attempts, and a sudden switch of opponents.
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Trump is a D**k
- By valerie on 03-02-25
By: Michael Wolff
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The Assault on the State
- How the Global Attack on Modern Government Endangers Our Future
- By: Stephen E. Hanson, Jeffrey S. Kopstein
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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What if the state as we know it didn't exist? Our air would be poisonous, our votes uncounted, and our markets dysfunctional. Yet across the world, in countries as diverse as Hungary, Israel, the UK, and the US, attacks on the modern state and its workforce are intensifying. They are morphing into power grabs by self-aggrandizing politicians who attempt to seize control of the state for themselves and their cronies. What replaces the modern state once it is fatally undermined is not the free market and the flowering of personal liberty.
By: Stephen E. Hanson, and others