For those who believe “history doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes” there is no better historian than Timothy Snyder, and in On Tyranny he condenses his work on twentieth century (in books like Black Earth and Bloodlands) into twenty concise lessons.

In the second lesson he argues that we should choose an institution we value and defend it, in the tenth he argues that we should believe in truth (“to abandon facts is to abandon freedom”), and in the fourteenth he argues for establishing a private life including meeting people in person!

While it’s great to read about democracy and how it works, it’s also valuable to understand how the enemies of democracy work. This is short and easy-to-read and should be recommend reading on every civics course. The Graphic Edition adds great illustrations from Nora Krug that enhance the core message of the book.