My 2025 A to Z Challenge theme is activism. I’ve been a Black Lives Matter activist for over a decade. I’m not an expert. I do have experience to share and I’m hoping to learn from your experiences, too. We’re all in this together.

For T, I decided to write a book review of a book that has three words in the title that begin with that letter. This is a book blog, after all. My A-to-Z Challenge ought to have at least one book review in it.

Book: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
Genre: Nonfiction
Publisher: Duggan Books
Publication date: 2017

Source: Audiobook and e-book borrowed from library

Summary: I listened to the audiobook of On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder last month. It’s only two hours long and provides good motivation and good tips for resistance. The twenty lessons are briefly summarized on this page at scholars.org.

The audiobook felt a bit dated, since it was written and recorded in 2017. This month, I reread On Tyranny in e-book format so that I could pinpoint the actions that work well in my life. I also discovered, as you’ll see from some of the quotes below, that some material has been updated with events through at least January 6, 2021.

Thoughts: I’ll reflect on the lessons that feel actionable for me in this post. Other lessons will inspire actions in others. We all have different skills and circles.

Lesson One. Do not obey in advance.

I’ve been hearing people say this and have said it myself. But reading the book added an important reason to refuse to obey in advance. Authoritarian governments don’t know how much they can get away with. There are several examples where people guessed what Hitler would want — it turned out to be much farther than the government ever thought would be possible. Let’s get in the habit of resisting so that we don’t accidentally give more power to authority than they dreamed they could get.

Lesson Four. Take responsibility for the face of the world.

Here’s a video that might be helpful if anyone sees a swastika. It shows fun ways to turn one into something else, like a bunny rabbit:

Lesson 8. Stand out.

“Someone has to. It is easy to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. Remember Rosa Parks. The moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.”

Lesson 9. Be kind to our language. 

I’m interpreting this as “pay attention to words.” For example, the Department of Education has put out material that threatens Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. But they aren’t using the words in the way I learned them. They act as if diversity, equity, and inclusion are somehow bad things. I know them to be values that I was taught are both American and moral. I was also taught that uniformity, inequity, and exclusion are neither moral nor American values.

One thing I’m attempting to do in response is to quit using the shorthand DEI and start using the words: diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Lesson 11. Investigate.

I admit that I have some concerns about the advice to do your own research in the current environment. Conspiracy theorists have populated the internet with falsehoods and breadcrumbs to lead you to their pet theory.

Fortunately, I have a library degree and I know how to use it!

“It is your ability to discern facts that make you an individual, and our collective trust in common knowledge that makes us a society. The individual who investigates is also the citizen who builds. The leader who dislikes the investigators is a potential tyrant.”

My ability to investigate the status of the rural hospital in my hometown helped me build an effective pitch on the day that I lobbied in the Missouri State Capitol.

We can also take responsibility for our blog posts and for what we share on other platforms.

“Since in the age of the internet we are all publishers, each of us bears some private responsibility for the public’s sense of truth. If we are serious about seeking the facts, we can each make a small revolution in the way the internet works. If you are verifying information for yourself, you will not send on fake news to others. If you choose to follow reporters whom you have reason to trust, you can also transmit what they have learned to others. If you retweet only the work of humans who have followed journalistic protocols, you are less likely to debase your brain interacting with bots and trolls.”

Lesson 12. Make eye contact and small talk.

He described moments shared during previous tyrannical regimes in the twentieth century.

“…people who were living in fear of repression remembered how their neighbors treated them. A smile, a handshake, or a word of greeting — banal gestures in a normal situation — took on great significance. When friends, colleagues, and acquaintances looked away or crossed the street to avoid contact, fear grew. You might not be sure, today or tomorrow, who feels threatened in the United States. But if you affirm everyone, you can be sure that certain people will feel better.”

“Having old friends is the politics of last resort. And making new ones is the first step toward change.”

Lesson 18. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives.

“Modern tyranny is terror management. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that authoritarians exploit such events in order to consolidate power. The sudden disaster that requires the end of checks and balances, the dissolution of opposition parties, the suspension of freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Do not fall for it.”

We’ve already seen the Republican president attempting some of these things and manufacturing fears to justify them. We can practice this now, by calming calling our elected officials and reminding them that due process is for everyone because, if it’s not, there is no due process for anyone.

“After 2016, the United States became of country of staged crises, such as supposed refugee ‘invasions.’ a real plague that killed became an opportunity for those who opposed health measures to ‘liberate’ their states. A real murder of an African American became an imagined wave of violence against the suburbs. A secure election became the occasion for a big lie about its results.”

The tariffs created their own environment of chaos and crisis. Unlawful deportations have done the same.

“Courage does not mean not fearing, or not grieving. It does mean recognizing and resisting terror management right away, from the moment of the attack, precisely when it seems most difficult to do so.”

Lesson 19. Be a patriot.

For some of us, this might mean redefining what a patriot means. I never bought into the mentality that patriotism should feel the same as rooting for my high school football team (Go Bulldogs!). Patriotism has to mean something deeper. I like the definition that Snyder provided:

“A patriot…wants the nation to live up to its ideals, which means asking us to be our best selves. A patriot must be concerned with the real world, which is the only place where his country can be loved and sustained. A patriot has universal values, standards by which he judges his nation, always wishing it well–and wishing that it would do better.”

Appeal: On Tyranny is a short book that is worth the time of anyone asking themselves the question “What can I do?”

Have you read On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder? What did you learn from it?