THE FAITHLESS?

While most political junkies examined the unprecedented nature of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential victory, Conrad was fascinated by the underreported stories about the eight so-called faithless electors who cast ballots that went against the popular vote of their states in the Electoral College. The driving questions behind the author’s work lie not in constitutional debates surrounding the legality of faithless electors or the undemocratic nature of the Electoral College, but in the eight electors themselves. “Who were these people who were willing to completely alienate themselves from their respective political parties?” she asks. Indeed, the bulk of the book is devoted to telling the stories of the electors, often in their own words and with little editorial comment by Conrad. Though the electors were willing to buck their political parties, they came from diverse ideological and social backgrounds. The eight men and women included a founder of an anti-abortion organization, a devoted libertarian and follower of Ron Paul, an Uber driver, a Hispanic community college student, a committed Bernie Sanders advocate, and an environmentalist. Regardless of ideology and party, the eight electors disproportionately came from minority ethnic groups, such as Baoky Vu, a former South Vietnamese refugee and self-described “Reaganite and big-tent conservative” who opposed Trump. Two Native Americans were among the Democrats who refused to back Hillary Clinton. In addition to its intimate vignettes about the eight electors, the book is full of captivating and well-designed infographics and charts. Conrad also provides readers with an effective primer on the arcane intricacies of the Electoral College and the 12th Amendment. Though some readers may seek more analysis and commentary from the author, her deeply human approach that centers on the personal lives of the eight electors is a welcome alternative to a genre dominated by hyperpartisan pundits. By pushing Trump and Clinton out of the spotlight, the book is also an implicit celebration of democracy with an unrelenting focus on state and local activists willing to stand up against members of their own parties.

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