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A review by bethanyclarkvt
How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future by Daniel Ziblatt, Steven Levitsky
5.0
I am proud that this is the first book I read in the new year. Admittedly, this is very close to what I studied in school and want to do with my life, but the parallels drawn by Levitsky and Ziblatt are vital to understanding what is happening in our country and what could happen. Even having studied the break down of democracies worldwide, I did not make the connections between what happened elsewhere and the various points in our history where democracy was weak or merely a facade.
I recommend this book to anyone with any interest in current events or politics, children of history, concerned citizens, anyone. Many people in social media compare today's events to "pre-Hitler Germany" or Germany's descent into fascism. What we forget is that in the last decade there are numerous other descents into dictatorships that have happened very close to our own borders. Looking at events in Latin America in the last century and what is happening in Poland, Hungary, and Turkey as we speak, Levitsky and Ziblatt really opened my eyes.
They also provided me with brand new vocabulary to describe polarization and the breakdown of what we expect our politicians to do and how we expect them to act. And it was easy to read, compelling, not too academic, and not bogged down in endnotes. I cannot recommend this book enough.
I recommend this book to anyone with any interest in current events or politics, children of history, concerned citizens, anyone. Many people in social media compare today's events to "pre-Hitler Germany" or Germany's descent into fascism. What we forget is that in the last decade there are numerous other descents into dictatorships that have happened very close to our own borders. Looking at events in Latin America in the last century and what is happening in Poland, Hungary, and Turkey as we speak, Levitsky and Ziblatt really opened my eyes.
They also provided me with brand new vocabulary to describe polarization and the breakdown of what we expect our politicians to do and how we expect them to act. And it was easy to read, compelling, not too academic, and not bogged down in endnotes. I cannot recommend this book enough.