Thursday, December 27, 2018

Three Books by the Historian Timothy Snyder




Timothy Snyder, historian of the Holocaust and Eastern Europe
Three books by the historian Timothy Snyder about the Holocaust, fascism and tyranny:
On Tyranny is a little book published as it became clear that Donald Trump would be the Republican candidate for President. The book lists 20 lessons from the 20th Century on tyranny and its consequences. I copied each of the 20 lessons and posted them on Facebook in the 20 days prior to the 2018 elections.  I thought there was a chance the President would cancel the election. All of his tendencies are tyrannical.
Black Earth is a country-by-country history of the Holocaust with manner of death per country and the political situation in each that encouraged slaughter or survival.  At the end of the book, Snyder acknowledges the heroes who saved Jews from the slaughter that was the worst in countries between Germany. Then he says the Holocaust represents a complete failure of the state Churches. I have always believed the Church dies when it has power. Snyder demonstrates this in terrible detail.
The Road to Unfreedom maps the demise of democracy in Russia, Europe and America as authoritarian leaders take control of democratic governments. This book is contemporary history. Snyder shows how Russia attacked Ukraine both on the ground and in cyberspace. It also covers how those living in Eastern Europe were expected Trump to win long before Americans thought he had a chance. This book is much less sad than Black Earth, but since it so clearly shows how democracy is crumbling it is very chilling.

Not So Supreme: A Conference about the Constitution, the Courts and Justice

Hannah Arendt At the end of the first week in March, I went to a conference at Bard College titled: Between Power and Authority: Arendt on t...