– On Tyranny: The Book to Help You Understand Why Democracy Is Failing

A really excellent analysis of what’s happening in the world today and what we’re sleepwalking into. I’ve added this book to a small group of three books that I have read and want to hold onto. These books illustrate the inhuman side of mankind and are great reminders of what an authoritarian regime is capable of. The books I already have are Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher Browning, Necropolis by Boris Pahor and The Order Of The Day by Eric Vuillard. All well worth reading. On Tyranny is a well written warning by Timothy Sneider and he compares a range of regimes, mostly Nazi and Communist but including Trump’s America, as he travels through his 20 topics. These are: 1. Do not obey in advance. 2. Defend institutions. 3. Beware the one-party state. 4. Take responsibility for the face of the world. 5. Remember professional ethics. 6. Be wary of paramilitaries. 7. Be reflective if you must be armed. 8. Stand out. 9. Be kind to our language. 10. Believe in truth. 11. Investigate. 12. Make eye contact and small talk. 13. Practice corporeal politics. 14. Establish a private life. 15. Contribute to good causes. 16. Learn from peers in other countries. 17. Listen for dangerous words. 18. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. 19. Be a patriot. 20. Be as courageous as you can. As an example in Chapter 10 Trump’s rhetoric is compared to that of any fascist leader where stock phrases are used so much they become part of the everyday language of the public. “Crooked Hillary”, “Build that wall”, “Lock her up”. Before you know it the words become action and lead to another tool for the vigilante or paramilitary. Talking of paramilitaries the action of Trump supporters at rallies against anti-Trump campaigners is no different to the Brown Shirts in 1930s Germany. What I would say is that reading this book should be a wake-up call. Those of us who tend to follow the crowd should start asking questions and challenging authority and bland statements at every level. If you read just one book in your life to make you wake up and think then make it this one.

This short book is excellent, engaging, thought provoking, and deeply insightful. My only reservation is that while the author’s arguments resonate strongly with the current Israel/Gaza conflict, he never references it. For someone who writes so powerfully about state violence, tyranny, and genocide, it feels like a missed opportunity to apply the same moral clarity to Israel’s actions. He calls for others to stand out but not for himself

This book is as challenging as it is short. Making it both extremely easy to read in a single sitting, yet hard to digest as you start to think through the implications and wrestle with the call out of complacency which it so brilliantly delivers. It's an intellectual wake-up call with practical application and political implications. Read it if you're trying to make sense of the current state of the world, but want something more than yet another newspaper opinion piece, but less taxing than a political text book. It won't give all the answers, but it gives plenty of nudges in the right direction. Likewise it's not a comprehensive deconstruction of 20th century politics - but it gives glimpses of history which provides warnings for the present. It's sobering, but not without hope, and ultimately it leaves you feeling as though you do have the power to effect meaningful change, despite the current climate. I'd highly recommend this book to just about anyone who is interested in why we are where we are, and what lessons we can learn from history

This short book is full of "Ah ha" moments followed by pennies, or should that be cents, dropping - it is clear, pithy and concise. It is the first book that I have from cover to cover in a long while and tomorrow I will do it again. It is like discovering J K Galbraith all over again. Buy this book, read. enjoy, reflect.

Timothy Snyder is professor of history at Yale and the author of several award-winning books, including ‘Bloodlands’ and ‘Black Earth.’ He has made the study of how tyrannies systematically dismantle established democratic government stage-by-stage his specialist subject and has become a leading thinker on the methods of autocracy as practiced through the past century, especially in Europe. This brief 128-page book is a guide for the responsible citizen to help maintain their democratic society’s institutions and norms in the age of rising authoritarian populism, in 20 short chapters with titles like ‘Beware the One-Party State’, ‘Remember Professional Ethics’ and ‘Believe in Truth.’ Snyder illustrates each chapter with examples from history of how autocrats took control in stages in Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia and communist states in eastern Europe such as Czechoslovakia and Poland. The writing is punchy, literate and of impressive brevity. There may be little new here for the intelligent and history-aware reader, but Snyder nevertheless reveals some gems: an explanation of the autocratic practice of ‘terror management’; the mechanism of how ‘truth dies in four modes’ (i.e. stages, each with a name and defining characteristics), and the subtle but important differences between a narrative based on “the politics of inevitability” and one firmly rooted in “the politics of eternity”; both are essentially ahistorical, but the latter far more dangerous. Some reviewers claim the book is about Donald Trump as president. In fact, Trump is hardly mentioned and this book is not about Trump as president per se, but about principled actions each citizen might undertake to support democracy in the face of those in power who would seek to undermine or destroy it. If many of these calls to action are more pertinent in the age of Trumpism, the timing of the book’s publication may be no coincidence. In his chapter on how nationalism is different to patriotism, the author explains that a nationalist fooled by an aspiring autocrat/tyrant ‘will say “it can’t happen here”, which is the first step to disaster. A patriot says that it could happen here, but that we will stop it.’

I think this is interesting and thought provoking. I also think it can be condensed into a single sentence- think for yourself and don’t blindly follow the herd. There must be so much more to politics and what’s ‘right’ than what’s written here. I don’t believe the bit about an experiment at Yale concludes how easy it is to follow orders (Killing other humans). In a ‘civilised’ country that allows freedom of speech, I don’t believe anyone would electrocute others because they’ve been told to do so. It’s ridiculous. I would have done it for fun knowing that no one would actually allow me to hurt someone. I think there’s so much more in indoctrination and getting soldiers to kill anyone different to themselves and an experiment in a western society just won’t get anywhere near. This book seems to be trying to get the reader to think about what Trumps doing in America and worldwide. And that is a good thing. As a Brit, I’ve no idea what Trump is trying to do. I hope he’s showing Putin how stupid these leaders look with their bravado ideas. Trying to take another country. A kind of mirroring. I would admire him if that were so. Instead of getting innocent soldiers etc into battle risking their lives, why don’t we get the Leaders to fight amongst themselves and see who wins. Would they be so confrontational when it’s only their own lives at stake? And in that case, would we elect leaders of a certain age or would we elect a younger, stronger, representative (gladiator!)? Or would we ‘resist’? Interesting.

Not so much a book, more a pamphlet or a manifesto for the opposition to populist leaders, and one in particular. With that aim, its brevity is useful. Anyone well read in history, particularly European history of the 20th century, will probably learn little new, but most people are not well read unfortunately. If this book helps to raise awareness and motivation of even a few of them, then it will have been worth the writing. At its heart, the message of the book is quite simple: progress is not inevitable, and if we are complacent in defence of our freedoms and institutions, we can easily fall back into dictatorship and chaos. The book draws parallels between what is happening now, and examples of similar erosions in 20th century Europe, but with useful advice on how individuals can try to combat such erosions.

Everyone should read this and take heed of the warnings within about the real risk of the rise in fascism . Short book but enlightening