On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “bracing” (Vox) guide for surviving and resisting America’s turn towards authoritarianism, from “a rising public intellectual unafraid to make bold connections between past and present” (The New York Times)

“Timothy Snyder reasons with unparalleled clarity, throwing the past and future into sharp relief. He has written the rare kind of book that can be read in one sitting but will keep you coming back to help regain your bearings.”—Masha Gessen

The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.

On Tyranny is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come.

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Published Feb 28, 2017

128 pages

Average rating: 8.62

137 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Sue Dix
Mar 14, 2026
10/10 stars
An excellent, short read. I highly recommend it.
Groundhogcat
Oct 24, 2025
8/10 stars
Good read. Just how could the US slide into tyranny. Snyder looks at the past to see how this could happen. Snyder the offers solutions to counter tyranny.
The.Gouda
Mar 20, 2025
10/10 stars
A short, but very informative read! It really highlights what Americans currently experience in our political climate, and the book provides historical context by which these lessons are driven.
Sarabeth0321
Mar 30, 2026
10/10 stars
Read it in less than an hour. It’s a great, short book that everyone should read. Very important lessons we should all be exposed to.
magiccueball
Feb 15, 2025
Very short, useful and important read right now

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