I have favorite books. This is not one of them.
I have books I want to suggest to people. This is not one either.
This book is not enjoyable. It is sobering. Reading it is like sinking into ice-cold water. Every fact is laid out crystal-clear, with the piercing pain of a truth you knew but hoped you could ignore. I could only read a couple pages each sitting before I had to walk away.
And yet, it’s possibly the most important book I’ve ever read. With grim steadiness, Kendzior draws on her experience studying autocratic states to establish that we in the US are experiencing an autocratic consolidation of power, hardly different from those seen in former democracies such as the Ukraine or Hungary. She draws careful connections between several Republican operatives, as well as many White House officials and Trump himself, and powerful figures in the shadows who have sought for years to, as she puts it, “strip America down and sell it for parts”.
It is about the decline of America and the rise of Donald Trump. It is an obituary for American exceptionalism. It is a desperate warning.
I can’t just suggest this book. It’s not just good. It’s imperative. It’s necessary. I want to plead with you:
If you never take any other recommendation from me, please read this book.
Please. Read it soon.
Because before long, it may be too late to matter.