Over the weekend, Writers for Democratic Action (WDA) awarded historian Heather Cox Richardson with its inaugural Gitlin-Auster Defender of Democracy Award, “established to honor a writer whose voice powerfully embodies the wisdom, courage, and steadfastness that marked the lives of Todd Gitlin and Paul Auster, WDA Founding Members.” Here’s some more from the WDA:

For the last seven years, Professor Richardson has published her nightly Letters From An American , an acute historian’s reading of present events in the light of the nation’s past. Fully sourced and always crediting other writers, her work gives new meaning to the old saw that “Journalism is the rough draft of history.” Although, in her case, without the roughness: style and wit are hallmarks of the HCR Letters.

The Gitlin-Auster Defender of Democracy Award underscores the writer’s public responsibility in a time of unprecedented crisis, and celebrates the power of words to record history and to change it. In a dangerous time, Heather Cox Richardson has upheld those values magnificently. It is WDA’s honor to honor her.

The presentation was live-streamed on Zoom on Saturday, September 19, with viewers tuning in from watch parties all over the country, and was followed by a conversation between Richardson and Siri Hustvedt, also a WDA founding member.