On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

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

“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.

Originally published in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, the prescient ideas contained in On Tyranny prompted The Guardian to anoint Snyder “the leading interpreter of our dark times.” Now those ideas resonate more than ever. 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.