Has History Professor Heather Cox Richardson Inspired A Social Movement?

Boston College History Professor Heather Cox Richardson is phenomenal. Her new book, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, has rocketed to bestseller lists. Her initial book tour included at least a dozen stops and was absolutely packed with fans. Many events were recorded and posted on YouTube. They seem fresh and authentic conversations, not contrived, nor like a hack sticking to a script of talking points. These enthusiastic gatherings suggest she has an almost cult following — quite remarkable for a Ph.D. historian who geeks out at stuff like Lyndon Johnson’s Cadillac at the LBJ Library in Austin.

The new book is billed as “a vital narrative that explains how America, once a beacon of democracy, now teeters on the brink of autocracy — and how we can turn back.”

In addition to this popular book, while teaching, with all her research requirements, Richardson manages to write a nightly 1,200-word essay tying American history to the news of the day, usually emailed around 2 a.m. Before writing, the question she most tries to answer is “What will be important 150 years from now?”

She has more than a million readers, at least 200,000 of whom pay $5 a month to read it. She’s considered the “Queen of Substack,” raking in about $5 million per year, and is an inspiration as such a high-profile public historian. Hundreds, sometimes thousands of her readers meet daily on her Substack to discuss her latest insights, network, and offer their own insights on Substack Notes. I’ve communicated with some very thoughtful people and gained hundreds of readers from being part of HRC’s network.

In my view, Substack is a worthy successor to the toxic and dwindling if not dying Twitter, now called X; the privacy-invading Meta, parent company for the now perky but shallow Facebook; and appearance-obsessed Instagram.

Is all this activity creating a new, financially viable publishing platform for writers who only earn 10 percent or less of the list price of the books they produce? Is it creating a significant social, cultural, and political movement, turning people into history buffs, and perhaps even making an impact on the 2024 elections?

If HCR is not drained and exhausted from publishing her 2 AM newsletters each night, might…

(Below: link to a 2018 profile of Richardson; differences between journalists and historians; what critics are saying about HCR’s new book; some mild criticism; an embedded video from the LBJ library; and a link to my YouTube playlist of 36+ HCR videos.)