Timothy Snyder, who specializes in Eastern Europe, is one of my favorite historians. Some of his heftier volumes include Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning and The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, and America (about the fragility of democracy and the rise of authoritarianism). In early 2017, in the wake of the election of Donald Trump, he produced a short and easy-to-digest volume called On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. Among the twenty lessons are these: "Do not obey in advance," "Be wary of paramilitaries," and "Believe in truth." I was so taken with these lessons that I bought a copy (only $8!) for many of the students who had taken a class I was teaching about fascism. Every American should keep a copy of On Tyranny on the coffee table. In the fall of 2021, a new version with illustrations came out. I highly recommend it to all.

The book did not give me much solace, but it does help the reader unpack how easy it is for an authoritarian to come to power and undermine confidence in reason and "truth" AND how to stand up to such a leader before it's too late.