In The Small and the Mighty, Sharon McMahon proves that the most remarkable Americans are often ordinary people who didn't make it into the textbooks. Not the presidents, but the telephone operators. Not the aristocrats, but the schoolteachers. Through meticulous research, she discovers history's unsung characters and brings their rich, riveting stories to light for the first time.

You'll meet a woman astride a white horse riding down Pennsylvania Ave, a young boy detained at a Japanese incarceration camp, a formerly enslaved woman on a mission to reunite with her daughter, a poet on a train, and a teacher who learns to work with her enemies. More than one thing is bombed, and multiple people surprisingly become rich. Some rich with money, and some wealthy with things that matter more.

This is a book about what really made America - and Americans - great. McMahon's cast of improbable champions will become familiar friends, lighting the path we journey in our quest to make the world more just, peaceful, good, and free.

"With shimmering research, an observant eye, and a bright moral compass, Sharon McMahon leads us through the thickets of the past until we can see where we came from and where we are going."―David Grann, New York Times bestselling author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon

"Sharon McMahon is a national treasure and a one-woman cavalry for truth, saving our republic one loving and clear-eyed lesson at a time. She and this book are a gift to our country."—Isabel Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of Caste and The Warmth of Other Suns

"This book won't just enlighten and entertain you--it will leave you empowered by newfound confidence that you don't need to be rich or famous to make a difference. The Small and the Mighty is a master class in making American history fascinating and fun."―Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Potential and Think Again, and host of the podcast Re: Thinking

"The Small and the Mighty brings to life a cast of Americans who deserve their place in our national Hall of Fame. It's a swift, moving, beautiful book that makes you blush with pride--after swearing with outrage at the circumstances that forced them to act."―Timothy Egan, author of A Fever in the Heartland