2024.02.1 : View this Review Online | View Recent NDPR Reviews
Christopher F. Zurn, Splitsville USA: A Democratic Argument for Breaking Up the United States, Routledge, 2023, 215pp., $48.95 (pbk), ISBN 9781032429793.
Reviewed by Peter Stone, Trinity College Dublin
The idea of breaking up the United States is today mostly confined to the lunatic fringe—to the likes of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), for example (McCann Ramirez 2023). Christopher Zurn seeks to change that. His new book, Splitsville USA: A Democratic Argument for Breaking Up the United States, endeavours to move the idea into mainstream U.S. political discourse. In doing so, Zurn has performed a valuable service. When Greene says something that sounds stupid, it’s hard to tell if it is the source or the idea itself that is the problem. Zurn’s book, however, offers a more mature and sophisticated defence of the idea than anything Greene is capable of producing. If the idea still sounds bad—and trust me, it does—you can be sure…
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