A few years ago, Nick and I were at an event in the same town where we record and produce Civics

101, that's Concord, New Hampshire.

We were in front of this crowd of very civically engaged citizens and someone says, hey, you

should have Heather Cox Richardson on the podcast. And we both said, and I am a smidge embarrassed

to admit this.

Heather, who?

Now there's a pretty good chance you already know Heather Who.

By the next day I had subscribed to Heather's unparalleled newsletter,

Letters from an American, and realized that I had just gained access

to the historical context for the goings on of American government of my dreams.

We tried to get Heather on the podcast at the time, but it turns out she was pretty busy.

Now, one of the things that made her so very busy is exactly what you are about to hear about today.

Because I did eventually get the chance to interview Heather Cox Richardson about her brand new book, Democracy Awakening,

Notes on the State of America.

Now I blazed through this book in two settings.

You may get through it in just one.

You were about to hear my conversation with Heather about her book and the State of America.

We sat down to talk at the music hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

for their event series, Writers on a New England stage in September of 2023.

Now fun fact, Heather Cox Richardson was a little delayed for our interview because she was coming

from New York City, which had just been hit by intense rains and flooding.

Heather hopped off her delayed plane, got into a car, drove to New Hampshire, and walked on stage.

...