Fall is here. I want to curl up with heavy blankets and stacks of books in front of the fire and listen to the rain, one of life’s greatest seasonal luxuries. I want to reread Ross Gay’s “The Book of Delights” and Michael Hogan’s “Walking Each Other Home” because they’re so uniquely beautiful. Beauty and joy aren’t just antidotes to outrage and despair. They can inoculate us against some of the ugliness and the evil in this world. Goodness is sustenance.
But access to information and education is also a luxury. And the current administration is disrupting both with alarming support and success.
This year’s Banned Books Week runs from October 5th to October 11th.
In “war-ravaged” Portland, Powell’s Books says, “Book bans aren’t about the books. They’re about the ideas inside — and the power stories have to expand minds, spark questions, and encourage critical thinking. At Powell’s, we’ve supported and celebrated independent thinking since our inception, which means continuing to stock and sell books others have labeled ‘offensive’ or ‘inappropriate.’ We will always fight for your right to read anything you want.”
Can’t we just disappear into labyrinthine novels and serene poetry?
Yes. And …
As busy Americans struggle with complete overwhelm and constant uncertainty, clear direction is more than just much needed guidance, it’s a lifeline. If you can, make time for at least two short books, if you haven’t read them already.
One explains the direction American democracy is going, the second explains how we can stop it.
1.) Naomi Wolf’s 2007 “The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot” enumerates the 10 historically repeated steps that collapsed modern democracies into authoritarian regimes. It has become the standard slow-boil reference manual for 20th-century dictatorships where concentrating the power of the executive eclipses the judicial powers and hamstrings legislative functioning.
“The great dictators learn from one another what was essentially a blueprint for closing down an open society; and then it became clear to me that this blueprint is simple. It consists of ten steps. Ten clear steps. Then what became chillingly clear to me is that these ten steps are in place in America today,” Wolf said.
“Well, the first thing a would-be dictator always does is to invoke a terrifying internal and external threat. And often this can be a real threat, which the would-be dictator will hype or manipulate,” Wolf told NPR’s Alex Cohen.1
This succinct exposition isn’t just a quick historical overview. This pamphlet of a read warns us how quickly civil liberties, a free press, and the rule of law can be compromised.
You can also watch The End of America documentary made the following year.
2.) “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” by historian Timothy Snyder is remarkably brief but incredibly thorough and expansive.
How can I possibly make a difference? I’m just one person.
Written in 2017, Snyder’s 20 lessons give us step-by-step instructions of what all of us can do and the importance of each step against the “self-deifying” claims of our current president and the erosion of democracy.
To be certain, some of the steps are easier than others. But if each of us does as many of the steps as we can, we will exceed the 3.5% needed for peaceful resistance. “ … civil disobedience is not only the moral choice; it is also the most powerful way of shaping world politics – by a long way.”2
Snyder recommends additional titles for your self-directed education. I’ve only read four, and I made the unsettling mistake of reading “1984” and “Brave New World” back to back during the 2024 election. Now I’m adding nine more of his recommendations to my to-read list.
Some of Snyder’s nonfiction recommendations are:
We all want to build our walled garden and stay inside it. We’re scared. We want someone to stand up and make a difference. But each of us is someone who can motivate others. You are someone. Remember how much you can inspire people.
And I am someone. So I’m going to keep reading books before they’re banned. I’m going to keep reading and sharing independent journalism from human rights and free speech advocates and researchers:
You can read and share independent media. As Snyder suggests, take the time to read longer articles and essays, the ones researched over days and weeks, and fact-checked by editors.
Like, follow, subscribe, and comment to help the algorithms of independent journalists like those listed above. Financially support every Substack and political campaign you can.
Please comment/link below any other researchers and independent journalists doing the deep dives and the hard work that you recommend.
Stay informed, friends. We’re in this together.
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/16422285?storyId=16422285?storyId=16422285
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world
Timothy Snyder’s book is excellent.
When the stage is rigged, stepping outside it is the clearest move of all.
It’s not about truth. It’s about who gets to write the script. And currently it’s those in control.
Daniel Kahneman taught us that people don’t think in syllogisms, they think in shortcuts. I study those shortcuts. It’s called pattern recognition.