It is perfect timing to discuss the history of authoritarianism in the world! On Tyranny: Twenty lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder (first published in 2017) is a brief overview of the things that have happened in the past century that led to the regimes with totalitarian leaders, including the events in Nazi Germany, USSR, and many more that I was not familiar with. But despite the discouraging overview, it is a book full of hope. Each of the twenty sections is framed as a positive action that people can take when they recognize a similar governmental development arising in their society.
(Give the original date of publication, you won’t be surprised to hear that the author occasionally refers to actions that the Trump administration has taken that reflect the negative totalitarian issues from the past. some of these threw me off, because the publication date says “2017” but the author does refer to the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol. The publication page says “46th printing” and informs that it was originally published in hardcover in 2017 via a different imprint. However, nowhere does it give another date to suggest it has been updated. Obviously, it has been.)
There are so many great things in this little book. Its 126 pages but it has packed a lot of information. the author is a professor of 20th century European history, so he bases his realistic action suggestions on these lessons from the past. I love history, so this is just perfect! Instead of going over the different points he makes, I highly suggest that you read it yourself.
Here’s John Cleese summing it up, too!
P.S. Timothy Snyder has left the country for Canada. He no longer feels safe in the US of A because of the rising authoritarianism. That tells you something about the country! It’s a lesson from Germany in the 1930s. When the bright minds and university scholars begin leaving the country, they know something is coming. (This is why Einstein ended up in the US. Europe was no longer safe for him.)