The Price of Union

Race, Power, and the Making of American Democracy

What if American democracy isn’t undergoing a political crisis but a racial reckoning?

In The Price of Union, political scientist and civic leader Kelly Burton argues that our democratic crisis runs deeper than political divisions. It is—and has always been—ultimately a matter of race.

From the beginning, American democracy and racial caste have existed in a codependent relationship, each shaping and sustaining the other.

Drawing on four hundred years of history—from Jamestown to January 6—Burton shows how this arrangement has defined the nation’s institutions and values and how as the caste system begins to weaken, the democracy it upheld is beginning to come apart.

Picking up where Isabel Wilkerson’s modern classic Caste left off, Burton offers a deeply researched, narrative-rich retelling of the American story that exposes the original bargain that more than anything else made America what it is today. The result is a sweeping and provocative work that challenges and reframes how we understand power, race, and belonging in the “land of the free.”

The Price of Union invites readers to confront the true cost of the American experiment as we have known it—and to imagine what has never been: a nation built on shared humanity and capable of serving the common good.

Download The Price of Union discussion guide.