A review by moonyreadsbystarlight
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder

informative fast-paced

3.5

 <i>On Tyranny</i> outlines 20 ways that we can be vigilant or act in order to be aware of or stop tyranny by using examples from history – prominently, European history in the early 1900’s while also relating parts to the current presidential administration of the United States (as of its publication, 2017). Over all, I think this can be a good introduction especially if you aren’t very familiar with history or politics – or if you have some ideas but have not totally contextualized it. However, I did see some places that the text fell short. 

I do love the idea that it is simplified and actionable, but even so, I was looking for more nuance than it provided in some situations. Some of these points were really essential for understanding the issue, so I don’t want to minimize those. I think some of this could have been solved with some re-organization, which would have required some points to be synthesized. I think that the point about language would have been stronger if synthesized (he had a point about not repeating empty phrases online, another about being vigilant of specific words used by the government, and parts of a couple of other points that would have been made stronger if discussed together). That could have also been a pert of the conversation about thinking for yourself, which was also brought up in several points. There were other points like this that were repeated but the fact that they were repeated wasn’t discussed (the theme of acting for yourself and being self-aware was there a lot, but could have been stronger if the examples and points were at least synthesized at the end). So, overall I like the idea he was going for but it either needed to be reorganized or additional discussion should have happened at the end to bring the ideas together. 

There were also some specific points that I took issue with overall. Several points missed some big-picture ideas in terms of systems. There were some points (like “Stand out”) that were very individualistic. I do think that we as individuals need to take action, but without context, the advice is pretty flat (especially when the primary example of an individual was a world leader). I think the point about following professional ethics shows the lack of incorporating the systemic into the analysis the best. It’s calling on individuals to not make the bad decision (which is arguably silly advice, as people who would breach ethics like that probably would not be going to this book for advice), but more than that, it is assuming that these professional organizations are going to have a balanced ethical code if you only take it at face value. Of course, I think that professional ethical codes should be in place, but they should not be followed without analysis because they are not infallible. Perhaps this is overthinking what the advice in this was intended to be, but not discussing the issues inherent in these systems seems like a huge oversite. 

I had a really huge issue with how he talked about the internet. There was this idea of “screens bad, books good”. While he had points about how social media moves (outrage moving stories, misinformation), that’s not the whole picture of social media – nor is it the full picture of outrage and misinformation. You can find outrage and misinformation in magazines and books. You can also find more up-to-date information online in some instances. Increasingly so, it is becoming essential for so many types of activism and community (both of which he discusses). This is particularly true for marginalized communities – the LGBT community disabled community come to mind first, especially in more rural or isolated areas. This idea comes up in more than one of his points and it really rubbed me the wrong way (particularly as someone who has studied certain online communities at length). 

There were also details that were short-sighted in regards to certain areas of privilege. The most obvious instance of this, being in “Learn from peers in other countries”. Of course this advice at face-value is great. We need to be talking to people in other countries, especially since our issues are connected. However, he chastises a lot of people for not having passports and seems to imply that we should be traveling to have these international connections. It’s $145 for an adult passport in the US – I don’t think tons of people just don’t have passports because they refuse to leave. Travel is expensive (but you know a great way to find international friends? The internet that he was criticizing!). 

Overall, this book could be good for some folks, but I was expecting more. If you’re looking for a short digestible introduction about how we can use the history of tyranny, this could be a really great place to start. But, I think I was looking for something more in-depth.