How Democracies Die

By: Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The urgent and influential guide to the forces that have undermined democracies across the globe—forces running rampant in the United States today—hailed as “a touchstone” (The New Yorker) that “comes at exactly the right moment” (The Washington Post)

“Comprehensive, enlightening, and terrifyingly timely.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

“[Levitsky and Ziblatt] expand the conversation beyond Trump and before him, to other countries and to the deep structure of American democracy and politics.”—Ezra Klein

WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE • SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Time, Foreign Affairs, WBUR, Paste

Donald Trump’s presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? 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. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one.

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?

Praise for How Democracies Die

“If you only read one book for the rest of the year, read How Democracies Die. . . .This is not a book for just Democrats or Republicans. It is a book for all Americans. It is nonpartisan. It is fact based. It is deeply rooted in history. . . . The best commentary on our politics, no contest.”—Michael Morrell, former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (via Twitter)

“A smart and deeply informed book about the ways in which democracy is being undermined in dozens of countries around the world, and in ways that are perfectly legal.”—Fareed Zakaria, CNN

Essential reading

Great historical information presented that illuminates the likely path of America's downfall. Americans need to absorb this information as quickly as possible.

lo más importante libro en este momento.

No puedo ayudar pero me siento como yo necesito hacer algo después escuchando a este libro. muy impresionado.

A vulnerable democracy

Though written in the first years of the Trump administration, the authors are spot on as to what is happening to our democracy. Unfortunately we still have a ways to go to bring us back to real democracy. They lay out a difficult road. I hope we can follow it.

DEAD ON

Taking you on a tour of the past to bring into focus just how much history does repeat itself. They lay out how we are very much in the midst of an existential threat seen by many failed democracies just before their last breath of free, speech and air...

Prescient Book

Excellent and prescient book. Too bad all Americans don’t have the opportunity to read “How Democracies Die” as it would make us better citizens give us better tools to support our democracy.