
How Democracies Die
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Narrated by:
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Fred Sanders
About this listen
Two Harvard professors explain the dangerous world we face today
Democracies can die with a coup d'état - or they can die slowly. This happens most deceptively when in piecemeal fashion, with the election of an authoritarian leader, the abuse of governmental power and the complete repression of opposition. All three steps are being taken around the world - not least with the election of Donald Trump - and we must all understand how we can stop them.
In How Democracies Die, Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt draw insightful lessons from across history - from the rule of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile to the quiet undermining of Turkey's constitutional system by President Recip Erdogan - to shine a light on regime breakdown across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Notably they point to the dangers of an authoritarian leader faced with a major crisis.
Based on years of research, they present a deep understanding of how and why democracies die; an alarming analysis of how democracy is being subverted today in the US and beyond; and a guide for maintaining and repairing a threatened democracy, for governments, political parties and individuals.
History doesn't repeat itself. But we can protect our democracy by learning its lessons, before it's too late.
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Critic reviews
“Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies have collapsed elsewhere—not just through violent coups, but more commonly (and insidiously) through a gradual slide into authoritarianism. . . . How Democracies Die is a lucid and essential guide to what can happen here.”—The New York Times
“The most important book of the Trump era was not Bob Woodward’s Fear or Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury or any of the other bestselling exposes of the White House circus. Arguably it was a wonkish tome by two Harvard political scientists, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, published a year into Donald Trump’s presidency and entitled How Democracies Die.”—The Economist
“If you want to understand what’s happening to our country, the book you really need to read is How Democracies Die.”—Paul Krugman
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Story
In this exclusive audiobook edition, which includes eight hours of new content, Snyder combines the original essays from On Tyranny with twenty new lessons that answer the questions everyone is asking about this war. With forays into history, he clarifies the causes of the Russian invasion and the meaning of Ukrainian resistance, and explains the war's connections to threats to democracy here in the United States and around the world. Linking past and present, speaking only from notes, he guides the listener into the larger moral universe of On Tyranny.
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Best book of the decade
- By Chuck on 04-21-22
By: Timothy Snyder
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The Road to Unfreedom
- Russia, Europe, America
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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With the end of the Cold War, the victory of liberal democracy was thought to be absolute. Observers declared the end of history, confident in a peaceful, globalized future. But we now know this to be premature. Authoritarianism first returned in Russia, as Putin developed a political system dedicated solely to the consolidation and exercise of power. In the last six years, it has creeped from east to west as nationalism inflames Europe, abetted by Russian propaganda and cyberwarfare.
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A Key Understanding of Modern Politics
- By Richard Keohane on 04-08-18
By: Timothy Snyder
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Erasing History
- By: Jason Stanley
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Combining historical research with an in-depth analysis of our modern political landscape, Erasing History issues a dire warning for America and the world: the worst fascist movements of humanity’s past began in schools; the same place so many of today’s right-wing political parties have trained their most vicious attacks. Yale professor Jason Stanley exposes the true danger of the right’s tactics and traces their inspirations and funding back to some of the most dangerous ideas of human history.
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The bias attitude of the author
- By Elizabeth ohanna on 09-30-24
By: Jason Stanley
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The Conspiracy to End America
- Five Ways My Old Party Is Driving Our Democracy to Autocracy
- By: Stuart Stevens
- Narrated by: Jeff Bottoms
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Today’s Republican party is not a “normal” political party in the American tradition. It has become an autocratic movement masquerading as a political party. As Stuart Stevens argues in The Conspiracy to End America, if we look away from that truth, we greatly increase the likelihood that the America we love will slip away, never to return.
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Required Reading
- By Arturo Zendejas on 10-27-23
By: Stuart Stevens
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Strongmen
- Mussolini to the Present
- By: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
- Narrated by: Chloe Cannon
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Ruth Ben-Ghiat is the expert on the "strongman" playbook employed by authoritarian demagogues from Mussolini to Putin. In Strongmen, she lays bare the blueprint these leaders have followed over the past 100 years, and empowers us to recognize, resist, and prevent their disastrous rule in the future.
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Fascism expert talks fascism
- By sparky on 12-04-20
By: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
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How Civil Wars Start
- And How to Stop Them
- By: Barbara F. Walter
- Narrated by: Beth Hicks
- Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Political violence rips apart several towns in southwest Texas. A far-right militia plots to kidnap the governor of Michigan and try her for treason. An armed mob of Trump supporters and conspiracy theorists storms the U.S. Capitol. Are these isolated incidents? Or is this the start of something bigger? Barbara F. Walter has spent her career studying civil conflict in places like Iraq, Ukraine, and Sri Lanka, but now she has become increasingly worried about her own country.
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Reveals the limits of a Political Science approach
- By Bill on 01-17-22
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How Democracy Ends
- By: David Runciman
- Narrated by: David Runciman
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Since the end of World War II, democracy's sweep across the globe seemed inexorable. Yet today, it seems radically imperiled, even in some of the world's most stable democracies. How bad could things get? In How Democracy Ends, David Runciman argues that we are trapped in outdated 20th-century ideas of democratic failure. By fixating on coups and violence, we are focusing on the wrong threats. Our societies are too affluent, too elderly, and too networked to fall apart as they did in the past. We need new ways of thinking the unthinkable....
By: David Runciman
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Why Nations Fail
- The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
- By: Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?
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Pros and Cons of "Why Nations Fail"
- By Joshua Kim on 05-01-12
By: Daron Acemoglu, and others
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Democracy Awakening
- Notes on the State of America
- By: Heather Cox Richardson
- Narrated by: Heather Cox Richardson
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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At a time when the very foundations of American democracy seem under threat, the lessons of the past offer a road map for navigating a moment of political crisis. In Democracy Awakening, acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson delves into the tumultuous journey of American democracy, tracing the roots of Donald Trump’s “authoritarian experiment” to the earliest days of the republic.
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We’d be in a much better position if everyone read this
- By Jeffrey Schwartz on 10-01-23
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Prequel
- An American Fight Against Fascism
- By: Rachel Maddow
- Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Inspired by her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century. Before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it.
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The fight to keep democracy alive
- By Rex on 10-19-23
By: Rachel Maddow
What listeners say about How Democracies Die
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- Eddie Scher
- 06-27-18
Read this book
I’m writing this review after reading this book 2x in the past 2 weeks. Inspiring and actionable. An important book for this political moment.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Horse Rancher
- 09-07-18
Outstanding!
A well written, tremendously informative, study of the strengths and failings of world political rule...from Plato to Trump. Should be required reading for students everywhere and most particularly our govt. representatives.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Charles
- 08-10-18
An extremely important book
How Democracies Die cannot be more pertinent to this political moment. After a well organized journey through the history of failed democracies and diagnoses of their fatal diseases, the authors prescribe a very difficult treatment. But that that treatment’s efficacy makes great sense - and it’s an inspiring blueprint for today’s policy makers and political parties. An extremely consequential book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- John V
- 04-24-18
Remeber...
An eye opening and a good reminder of how fragile democracies are and how multiple countries have lost it and fight to win it back. Definitely a reference to sound the alarms for democracies that are in danger
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- PJ
- 07-17-18
Interesting, but a bit long winded.
It took me several months of on-again, off-again listening. While this book focuses on the current political situation in the United States (and argues that what is happening today is something that has evolved for decades if not centuries), while summarizing suggestions for maintaining democracy in the United States, it also examines the crisis that were experienced in other countries and how some clawed their way out of the conundrum.
It does drone on a bit though, although it is a good listen for someone who deeply cares about the preservation of democracy.
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- Memphis Reviewer
- 03-05-18
recommend it
Good, even handed review of democracies and potentially, their downfalls. I recommend it for others to provoke thought about what makes democracies survive.
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- Patricia
- 02-10-18
Every American Should Read this Book
Every American should read or listen to this book and do so with the understanding that the authors are experts in democratic governments and give them the respect due experts. They are not blasting people on the other end of a political spectrum with personal opinion. They are shining the light on our future and we must take heed.
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- Laurie Higgins
- 03-14-19
Must Read
This is a must read for everyone, political or not. Our democratic safety rails are eroding and we must find out and work together to put them back.
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- David S Friedman
- 04-09-18
Powerful book on what the US needs now
This is a must read for anyone concerned with the current state of affairs. It is a scholarly and intelligent analysis looking at other countries and history, to provide a roadmap for America’s future – the different potential paths we may follow. It’s entertaining and a quick listen. Definitely listen to this book!
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- BDD
- 04-04-18
Extremely enlightening!
I enjoyed every mimute. Its frightening to see the course that our country is on. Without immediate course correction, there is no telling how much our country will be damaged.
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