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.
“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.
BUY THE BOOK
These clubs recently read this book...
Community Reviews
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.
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.
The most important easy read you will read today. Yet the hardest thing to recognize in the atmosphere of today. What seems impossible both in Hope and in Destruction will be the future of our country. We are all players in the destination of this United States. Every day is a new beginning play it to keep it United.
While this little book will assuredly be blasted as liberal propaganda, the lessons from the past are too stark to ignore. It’s horrifying to see examples of how easily the public can be influenced into transgressions against other humans, and at scale. My key takeaway is how important it is for every citizen to take responsibility for their education, exposure, and interactions to contribute in meaningful ways and steer us away from tyranny. This is a book I’ll be buying extra copies of to put into the hands of more indifferent individuals in my circle.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.