Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy

The first book from Joyce White Vance: equal parts civics class, history lesson, and call to save the Republic, Giving Up Is Unforgivable is a political manifesto for our present moment

We’re in this together.

For the past two years, Joyce Vance has signed off posts on her chart-topping Substack “Civil Discourse” with these four words. In that time, she’s guided readers through a continued erosion of democratic norms, the unprecedented felony conviction of an ex-president, and the approaching specter of a second Trump Administration. Now, that it’s upon us, Vance helps us understand how to avoid burnout and despair and exercise the democratic muscles we need to save the Republic.

Giving Up Is Unforgivable is a clarion call to action—putting our current crisis in historical context and sketching out a vision for where we go next. Vance’s message is hopeful at its heart, while acknowledging the daunting challenges that lay ahead. She is the Constitutional Law professor you never knew you needed, explaining the legal context, the political history, and the practical reasons that the rule of law still matters, while also empowering you to do something—from the small (that conversation you’ve been meaning to have with your uncle, volunteering for your favorite political cause) to the big (starting a grassroots movement, running for political office).

Consider this the birth of a countermovement to Project 2025, a rallying cry for citizen engagement to counter the 2nd Trump Administration and save American democracy.

About the Author

JOYCE VANCE is the former US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, an office she held during the Obama Administration. She resigned on the eve of Donald Trump's first inauguration, at the end of 25 years of service as a federal prosecutor. Vance is a Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Law at the University of Alabama School of Law. She is a legal analyst for NBC and MSNBC, the author of the popular “Civil Discourse” Substack, and the cohost of two podcasts, #SistersInLaw podcast and Cafe's Insider. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband Bob, a retired judge, and a menagerie of children, chickens, cats and dogs.

Author Residence: Birmingham, AL

Author Hometown: Los Angeles, CA