Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
#authoritarianism
blurb
ravenlee

I recently subscribed to SK‘s Substack, and it turns out I have a few gift subscriptions. It‘s a one-month subscription. Anyone interested? I have five to offer, so I‘ll set a deadline of noon tomorrow (1200 CT on 30 May). If more than five people are interested I‘ll do a drawing. Simply comment below if you‘re interested, and I‘ll let you know if you‘re a winner! Feel free to repost, but only comments on this post will count.

review
ravenlee
post image
Pickpick

I finished this on audio and…holy crap, Sarah Kendzior is so spot-on about everything. Her predictions from Trump‘s first term have all come true, everything she was worried about has come to pass. We should call her Cassandra. I need to find everything she‘s ever written now, and you need to read this book! I subscribed to her Substack a few months ago, and I just upgraded to paid when I finished this. Seriously, read it.

blurb
Leftcoastzen
post image

Keep going everyone!

Librarybelle That‘s a great sign! 1mo
TheBookHippie Oh I like that one!!! 1mo
Leftcoastzen @TheBookHippie right?! Nice ! 1mo
dabbe 🤣✊🏻♥️ 1mo
BarbaraBB 👌🏽❤️ 1mo
60 likes5 comments
review
ravenlee
post image
Pickpick

Despite #DannyBoy‘s best efforts, and the weight of the real-world insanity, I finally finished this amazing book. Highly recommend for anyone wanting to understand what is happening and how we got here, although be cautioned that Russell Vought and Co seem to be using this as a how-to guide.

review
TracyReadsBooks
Surviving Autocracy | Masha Gessen
post image
Pickpick

A fast, informative read that speaks to the way in which we describe, label, & investigate political movements/actors & how the media covers them. What is most interesting is the argument we don‘t have the right vocabulary to accurately describe what we see happening in the US (and other places too) and because we don‘t the media inevitably risks normalizing things. It‘s a sobering look at the importance of language & reporting on current events.

review
Decalino
Surviving Autocracy | Masha Gessen
post image
Pickpick

This book came out in 2020, before the violence of January 6, and provides a clear-eyed and methodical look at the attempted autocracy of the first Trump administration. Gessen examines the normalizing of the unthinkable, the ways in which Trump strips words of meaning and drags the media along in his wake. Vital reading for anyone interested in understanding how we got here and what is likely to come next. I wish I'd read it sooner.

Tamra 😒 6mo
Sace I know I should read this but I‘m really afraid of what it will do to my anxiety level. 6mo
Decalino @Sace Understandable! It is written in a very calm, lucid style, not sensational at all if that helps. 6mo
20 likes2 stack adds3 comments
blurb
DyAnne
post image

We were without power for five nights after the bomb cyclone hit western WA. Treated myself to a visit at my favorite local indie. I‘ve earned it.

LiteraryinPA That sounds awful! I‘m glad you‘re on the other side now and hope you love the books. 6mo
5 likes1 comment
review
JenniferEgnor
How Democracies Die | Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt
post image
Pickpick

This book feels like old news now, but still so important to read. The authors lay out the warnings of a democracy in crisis, and all the moves to power that authoritarians make: Trump met (and continues to meet) each one of them. They discuss how these events unfolded in other countries, America‘s political history, and why democracy is so fragile. Voting and institutions alone will not save us. Highly recommend.
⬇️

JenniferEgnor Podcast episode where the authors speak with The Newyorker after the 2024 Election: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-political-scene-the-new-yorker/id26821... 6mo
JenniferEgnor Shown: part of a chat with one of my closest friends on Election Night. I was having a watch party with friends and my husband; she‘d been working the polls all day. We were broken. 6mo
TheBookHippie Yup. 6mo
13 likes3 comments
blurb
Julz422
Surviving Autocracy | Masha Gessen
post image

Unfortunately, have to pick this one back up again 😭

1 like1 stack add
blurb
Amiable
How Democracy Ends | David Runciman
post image

I am gutted.

JenReadsAlot Same. 7mo
CoverToCoverGirl Canadian here. When I heard the news this morning it felt like I was having an out of body experience and waking up in a parallel universe. Buyer‘s remorse will soon set in. A lot of us are worried about our next election up here too. It‘s disheartening that so many chose to not cast their votes for whatever reason. Inaction can lead to unintended consequences. 7mo
RosePressedPages This is really eye opening to how this election played out 7mo
See All 18 Comments
Amiable @CoverToCoverGirl You guys can‘t go backwards, too —Canada is our emotional safe space! We need you to stay sane. 7mo
Prairiegirl_reading You know I thought I was doing the math wrong or misremembering the numbers from 2020. 15 million people were moved to stay home. That is truly despicable. It doesn‘t make sense. 7mo
Prairiegirl_reading @CoverToCoverGirl yep, I‘m Canadian too and can definitely relate to everything you said. 7mo
CoverToCoverGirl @Prairiegirl_reading it is a very worrisome time. The pendulum is definitely going the wrong way. I‘m sixty and this is the first time I‘ve ever had a concern about Canadian politics and where it could take us. Ugly rhetoric and vitriolic speech seems to be the new horrible norm ‘round the world and unfortunately it has started to reach and influence some of our fellow Canadians. 7mo
CoverToCoverGirl @Amiable thank you for your kind words but I really fear our Canadian bubble is in jeopardy. Truly worried about our next election. We are really in danger of getting someone who aligns with your president elect, he‘s just less in your face about things. More a wolf in sheep‘s clothing. 7mo
dabbe Similar to the Bernie supporters who sat out in 2016. We did it to ourselves. And “gutted” sums it up perfectly. 7mo
marleed As I begin my search to make sense of last night‘s results what you present gives me back a glimmer of hope. There is work to do. MAGA did not shrink but maybe, just maybe, it did not grow. 7mo
TheBookHippie Gutted as well. The protest vote and non voting was huge here. Huge. 7mo
Bookwormjillk I will never understand not voting. 7mo
Anna40 What?! Non voting out of protest?! I stayed away from news yesterday … 7mo
MittenGirlPeach Absolutely the same. Trying to stay positive but clear-eyed and mostly succeeding. 7mo
staci.reads 🤬 7mo
AmyG I am amazed at the non-voting….but yet not. People are so incredibly ignorant and uninformed. The world has changed, how to we change with it? 7mo
BarbaraBB I am amazed at the non voters but also at all of those who voted against democracy and decency 💔 7mo
DogMomIrene 15 million is a sobering number. I was a 2016 Bernie supporter, but I still voted. John Oliver had a sincere plea to the protest voters last Sunday. Wish it had made more of a difference because my gut says the US will be changed for several generations with policies Trump will enact. 7mo
72 likes18 comments