Actor John Lithgow Reads 20 Classes on Tyranny, Penned by Historian Timothy Snyder

In 2017, his­to­ri­an Tim­o­thy Sny­der wrote the con­cise ebook On Tyran­ny: Twen­ty Classes from the Twen­ti­eth Cen­tu­ry, which went on to change into a New York Occasions finest­vendor. A his­to­ri­an of fas­cism (then at Yale, now at U. Toron­to), Sny­der need­ed to supply Amer­i­cans a use­ful information for resist­ing the coun­attempt’s drift in the direction of writer­i­tar­i­an­ism. It was helpful then and even hand­i­er now–particularly because the feds bear down on dif­fer­ent insti­tu­tions below­gird­ing Amer­i­can civ­il soci­ety. Regulation companies, uni­ver­si­ties, cor­po­ra­tions, media retailers–they’re all get­ting squeezed, and lots of have already vio­lat­ed the primary of Sny­der’s 20 classes: “Don’t obey prematurely.” Above, you’ll be able to hear actor John Lith­gow learn a con­densed ver­sion of Sny­der’s classes. You’ll be able to order a replica of his ebook on-line, or discover right here a relat­ed video collection that Sny­der professional­duced a number of years again. Discover a cheat sheet under.

1. Don’t obey prematurely
2. Defend insti­tu­tions
3. Beware the one-par­ty state
4. Take respon­si­bil­i­ty for the face of the world
5. Remem­ber professional­fes­sion­al ethics
6. Be cautious of para­mil­i­taries
7. Be reflec­tive in the event you should be armed
8. Stand out
9. Be variety to our lan­guage
10. Imagine in reality
11. Inves­ti­gate
12. Make eye con­tact and small discuss
13. Prac­tice cor­po­re­al pol­i­tics
14. Estab­lish a pri­vate life
15. Con­tribute to good caus­es
16. Study from friends in oth­er coun­tries
17. Lis­ten for dan­ger­ous phrases
18. Be calm when the unthink­ready arrives
19. Be a patri­ot
20. Be as coura­geous as you’ll be able to

Relat­ed Con­tent 

20 Classes from the twentieth Cen­tu­ry About The right way to Defend Democ­ra­cy from Creator­i­tar­i­an­ism, Accord­ing to Yale His­to­ri­an Tim­o­thy Sny­der

His­to­ri­an Tim­o­thy Sny­der Presents 20 Classes for Defend­ing Democ­ra­cy In opposition to Tyran­ny in a New Video Sequence

Umber­to Eco’s Checklist of the 14 Com­mon Fea­tures of Fas­cism

Yale Professional­fes­sor Jason Stan­ley Iden­ti­fies 10 Tac­tics of Fas­cism: The “Cult of the Chief,” Regulation & Order, Vic­tim­hood and Extra

Toni Mor­ri­son Lists the ten Steps That Lead Coun­tries to Fas­cism (1995)