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For today's best of 2020, Sam hosts Cornell Professor of American Institutions Suzanne Mettler to discuss her latest book, Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy and what we can learn from history to understand American democracy’s vulnerabilities. Mettler and Sam explore the moments in American history when the citizenry was worried about “democratic deterioration” and democratic backsliding and what caused those concerns. Mettler explains how her book explores the ostensibly settled elements of democracy, like voting rights. Mettler and Sam also recount the Wilmington, North Carolina insurrection story in 1898 when white citizens massacred black citizens and formed a constitutional convention to institute poll taxes and anti-democratic systems.