Book: How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt

Paperback, 308 pages, published 2018. Very good used condition. Minor cosmetic wear to the cover and I erased a few pencil marks from a previous owner, but otherwise this copy is like new. "This presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than 20 years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they argue that the answer is Yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang—in a revolution or military coup—but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions--such as the judiciary and the news media--and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, with our current president in power, we have already passed the first one. Drawing on decades of research and a wide range of historical and global examples--from 1930s Europe to contemporary Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow--the authors show how democracies die, and how ours can be saved." In this era of misinformation-propaganda and the suppression of truth and public protest it couldn't be more vital for us to learn about the history of authoritarian regimes, and learn how to fight them. This is a very well researched book, with 55 pages of end notes, and there's a Reader's Guide in the back.