We've Been Here Before
How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America

REVISED 07/23/26
by Michael I Days and Angela P Dodson
 

 ISBN979-8-8808-3737-4

Broadleaf Books. s
Published 2026

As we celebrate the Centiquintentennial 250 years of the Declaration of Independence this book landed at my doorstep. I am enjoying this historical book beyond words..It is masterfully researched and a book I can't put down. As a former librarian, the endnotes are particularly important to me whenever I read a historical book. The authors have documented with depth and extensive research relative books, speeches and other sources to back up this non-fiction book.
This is a complex history of the United States, which at times can be quite disturbing as the reality of history as it happened is corrected. As most know, times (most times) much of American History was buried,,conveniently omitted or misinformation published.

The book is essentially a chapter by chapter walk through the struggles of the Indigenous people, freedom from enslavement and work of the abolitionists, women' s rights-voting and beyond, the labor movement, peace, climate and the earth. The authors have written with detail and at times disturbing frankness about the realities of incidents, events and unheard of atrocities.

To quote ..."the overall message: "in this book, we aggressively explore the complex history of the United States, including the colonists quest for religious freedom, the displacement of Indigenous people, and enslavement and the responses to it, including rebellion, self-emancipation, the Underground Railroad, and the Abolition Movement. We trace the history of some of the most fundamental social movements that have shaped the nation: the struggles for rights-women's, labor and civil-as well as the movement for peace and environmental stewardship including climate change."

This book is a riveting and a must read account of the past 250 years of our nation. With candor the authors use these historical events and with each movement, they show the leaders, who challenged the status quo. Those who refused to sit back even when the stakes were dire.

Have we learned from our past and which way the republic is headed? So many questions. The takeaway from We’ve Been Here Before is that to maintain the republic it will take all of us. The words of President Abraham Lincoln was included in the Epilogue (220):

“The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.” (Abraham Lincoln, 1839)”

Highly recommended for incorporating the struggles of the past with the difficult miasma we face today.

Donna W Edwards for Library Thing Early Reviewers July 23, 2026