SHL Book Club: On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder

What do you read for a book club meeting held 9 days before an election where the very survival of American democracy seems to be hanging in the balance? On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder is our choice for our October book club meeting. We are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

The meeting will be held in Meeting Room B of the Main Public Library downtown. There is parking available in the garage under the library (garage closes at 5). After the meeting we'll go out for food and further conversation.

About the book:
Timothy Snyder’s New York Times bestseller On Tyranny uses the darkest moments in twentieth-century history, from Nazism to Communism, to teach twenty lessons on resisting modern-day authoritarianism. Among the twenty include a warning to be aware of how symbols used today could affect tomorrow (“4: Take responsibility for the face of the world”), an urgent reminder to research everything for yourself and to the fullest extent (“11: Investigate”), a point to use personalized and individualized speech rather than clichéd phrases for the sake of mass appeal (“9: Be kind to our language”), and more.

In this graphic edition, Nora Krug draws from her highly inventive art style in Belonging—at once a graphic memoir, collage-style scrapbook, historical narrative, and trove of memories—to breathe new life, color, and power into Snyder’s riveting historical references, turning a quick-read pocket guide of lessons into a visually striking rumination. In a time of great uncertainty and instability, this edition of On Tyranny emphasizes the importance of being active, conscious, and deliberate participants in resistance.