On Tyranny
First UK edition (publ. Bodley Head) | |
| Author | Timothy Snyder |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Timothy Snyder |
| Illustrator | Nora Krug (graphic edition) |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Politics, history |
| Publisher | Tim Duggan Books (hardcover) / Penguin Random House (paperback) |
Publication date | February 28, 2017 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover, paperback), e-book, audiobook |
| Pages | 126 |
| ISBN | 978-0-8041-9011-4 |
| OCLC | 982489578 |
| Preceded by | Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning |
| Followed by | Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary |
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century is a 2017 book by Timothy Snyder, a historian of 20th-century Europe. The book was published by Tim Duggan Books in hardcover and by Penguin Random House in paperback. A graphic version, illustrated by Nora Krug, was released October 5, 2021. The book topped the New York Times bestseller list for paperback nonfiction in 2017 and remained on bestseller lists as late as 2021.
On Tyranny focuses on the concept of tyranny in the context of the modern United States politics, analyzing what Snyder calls "America's turn towards authoritarianism". Explaining that "(h)istory does not repeat, but it does instruct," he analyzes recent European history to identify conditions that can enable established democracies to transform into dictatorships. The short (126 pages) book is presented as a series of twenty instructions on how to combat the rise of tyranny, such as "Defend institutions", "Remember professional ethics", and "Believe in truth".