Why I’m a Democrat is a book about politics that isn’t too political. To reveal the heart of the party through the ties that bind its members, editor Susan Mulcahy has compiled a dazzling array of answers to the title question in the form of interviews, essays, emails, lists, and artwork. The result is a lively—even slightly voyeuristic—glimpse at what makes members of the party, from all across the country and from all walks of life, tick.

Nora Ephron · Frank McCourt · Irma Thomas · Dominick Dunne · Isaac Mizrahi · Tama Janowitz · Melissa Etheridge · Roz Chast · Craig Lesley · Jonathan Franzen · Frans de Waal · Maira Kalman · James Brady · Olympia Vernon · Paul Weitz · William Wegman · Seymour Chwast · James Naughton · Min Jin Lee and many others, including farmers, scientists, CEOs, union workers, former Republicans, and a Philly cheesesteak maker.

Political parties can make you cry, laugh, rant, rave, scream bloody murder, or stand up and cheer. Readers will find Democrats who do all that and more in this honest and entertaining portrait of the Democratic Party. Avoiding the usual suspects, Why I’m a Democrat serves up a wild assortment of real Democrats speaking plainly about their party, their aspirations, and themselves.

Susan Mulcahy, a writer, editor, and consultant based in Brooklyn, New York, is the author of My Lips Are Sealed: Confessions of a Gossip Columnist and Drawing Fashion: The Art of Kenneth Paul Block. She is the former editor of the New York Post’s Page Six and a former vice president of Starwave, the early web content company.