There’s a booming literature on the erosion of democracy in America, as well as around the world, but David Pepper’s book “Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call From Behind the Lines” stands out as arguably the most important for three reasons: It brings the subject down to earth, connects democratic erosion to corruption and the decline in America’s quality of life, and provides a wealth of ideas about how to fight back to protect democracy. 

The book’s subtitle is well-earned. Pepper is a former city councilman, mayor, county commissioner and head of the Democratic Party of Ohio, as well as a lawyer who has won important battles defending democracy in court. This is no armchair account — it reads more like a well-organized set of field notes from battles seen first-hand. 

Perhaps most significantly, those battles have surprisingly little […]