Thinking about...

Lesson 7. “If you carry a weapon in public service, may God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no.” In the podcast, I go into greater depth about the sources of this lesson: the mass atrocities carried out by German policemen and soldiers during the Second World War. I also spe...

Dear All, It’s been one of the great pleasures of my life as a writer to speak about the new graphic edition of On Tyranny with its illustrator, Nora Krug. Her interpretation of the book is astounding and beautiful, and in our public conversations I have much enjoyed making contact with her and with our new public. There has also been a good deal of discussion of the book on television . I am now...

As you know, I am releasing new discussions of the twenty lessons from On Tyranny, first as videos (notifying subscribers) and then as podcasts (for everyone). We have reached the fifth of twenty podcasts. In the book , the fifth lesson reads: “Remember professional ethics.  When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important. It is hard t...

The text of lesson four reads: “Take responsibility for the face of the world. The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away, and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.” Now that Nora Krug has made On Tyranny a deeper and better book with her transformative art, this lesson is e...

“Lesson 3. Beware the one-party state.  The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not omnipotent from the start.  They exploited a historic moment to make political life impossible for their opponents.  So support the multiple-party system and defend the rules of democratic elections.  Vote in local and state elections while you can.  Consider running for office.” This is the third...

The last podcast was about lesson one, not obeying in advance. That is the first lesson of On Tyranny because all of the others depend upon it. If we do obey in advance, if we normalize what is coming before it even arrives, we are part of the problem of tyranny. If we can preserve our own sense of values, if "normal” for us means what is good and right and not just whatever happens, then we have...

Today is the publication day of a new graphic edition of my book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. Thanks to the extraordinary artwork of Nora Krug, it is now a deeper and better book. I have kept the lessons exactly as they were, but changed some of the supporting text to account for experiences of the past five years, and for the challenges of the years to come. In that spir...

Dear Friends, this essay elicited touching and interesting reactions, and I am encouraged to think and write more about our melancholy politics of parenting. This was also my most widely read essay at the time it was published, which was 20 May. Because it is very personal, I liked reading it. I hope you appreciate this version, which I am sending to everyone. In general, the writing will be for e...

Dear Friends, this is one of my favorite posts. I think some of it works better in the spoken language. I hope you enjoy it. I am sending this one out to everyone, although in general the podcasts are for subscribers. If you would like to have access to all of the podcasts, as well as to an archive of all of the posts, please do sign up. This text was published on 17 April 2021. TS This is a publi...

This is my most recent post, read aloud by me. I chose to record it first, and to send it to everyone, because it deals with the preservation of democracy in the United States. If you would like to receive podcast versions of my other posts, please subscribe, if you have not already done so. Subscribers will receive audio as well as text versions of all past and future posts. This is a public epis...