Adam Gopnik reviews “Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America,” by Heather Cox Richardson, and “The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives,” by Brook Manville and Josiah Ober.

Cicero, the Roman orator and politician of the first century B.C.E., spoke up over and over againwhile stamping his feet for effect in between sentences, if his own testimony is to be believedfor the…