Monday, February 10
7pm in the Activity room
(an after hours library program)
The Morbid History Book group is a book group that meets after work and discusses important but often ignored or uncomfortable history. This group will meet on the 2nd Monday of each month, after hours at the library, for those who work days.
The book for February is How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky
Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe 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 press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism.
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, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die. Now the question is, can our democracy be saved?
Optional additional read:
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder. A short 120pg. book for those interested.
