On Tyranny: Expanded Audio Edition

This is a small book, but it has a LOT of information packed into it. I took my time reading through it because the topics are obviously on the heavier side and I wanted to give myself time to process what I was reading.

Snyder does a fantastic job at drawing the parallels between Nazism and Communism and what is occurring in America at this time. As an American, I felt that this is a very important book. You always hear references to the president pulling from Hitler's playbook, but you don't get much information other than that. This puts a lot of it into perspective. Chillingly, though, this was written in 2017, and seeing everything playing out the same way with more force is frankly terrifying.

This book is not just gloom and doom, though. Snyder talks about his different points, gives you some detail so you understand what it means, and then usually gives you some advice for how to react to or handle these events coming to play in real life.

If you are concerned about what you have been seeing from this presidency, you should absolutely give this a read.

I was in the middle of reading The Armageddon Protocol, the latest science fiction thriller from Dan Moren. He’s my favorite newish author, with six novels out now, each better than the last (and the first one was excellent). More people should know about his books.

Anyway, I set that aside to begin reading a 2017 book by Yale historian Timothy Snyder. It offers ““twenty lessons from the twentieth century, adapted to the circumstances of today” and is the source of many quotes and memes going around the last few days. It’s a quick easy read. If you voted for the guy and think the current panic is hyperbole, I recommend reading this book if only to reassure yourself that it is hyperbole and to see what to watch for to ensure you’re on the right side of history if the bottom ever were to fall out. And for the rest of us, this book offers practical lessons and advice drawn directly from times and places much like ours you can use to defend what you hold dear.