Blue Jeans in High Places is both a hunt for lost political treasure and a how-to guide for nursing American democracy back to health. The book details how our political culture has become diseased while at the same time dispelling the cynical view that politics has always been like it is today and always will be. And it prescribes a groundbreaking cure.

Identifying distinguishable periods during which the nation’s ruling class employed different instruments of social, economic and political control, author Mike McCabe brings readers to terms with the troubling reality that we face another historic moment when democracy in America is giving way to oligarchy and gives this dismal period a name that captures its essence.

The book reaches back to episodes from the past that speak powerfully to what our response could be to the current condition of American democracy. Tales of crooked political dealings, enterprising leaders and remarkable outcomes produced by dirt-poor unlettered men and women compel us to compare and contrast their predicament with our own. And we are left with little choice but to acknowledge that conditions like today’s have been faced before… and overcome. Blue Jeans in High Places spells out six steps citizens can take today to get back in the driver’s seat of our government. American politics is overdue for some extensive renovation. This book is about where it will happen, who will do it, and how.