Originally published in 2017, the book has surged in popularity, topping numerous bestseller charts
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The New York Times bestseller list is typically home to recent, buzzworthy releases, but a 2017 nonfiction book has been dominating the Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction and Paperback Nonfiction charts for months, currently sitting at number two and one, respectively. That book is Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny, first published in Feb. 2017.
On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Snyder is a professor of history at Yale and has written 16 books. His most recent is On Freedom, and while that book was published in Dec. 2024, it’s On Tyranny that’s maintained a hold on the charts. Currently number one, it’s held a spot on the paperback nonfiction chart for 109 weeks.
In addition to the Times’ chart, On Tyranny is also the number 10 bestseller on Barnes & Noble’s nonfiction bestseller chart, sharing shelf space with recent releases like Bill Gates’ memoir. And it’s the number one bestseller overall on indie bookseller Bookshop.org’s list.
The book is subtitled “Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” drawing on historical examples to illuminate our current political moment. Notably, the book was published at the dawn of the first Trump administration, and while it’s not directly about his presidency, it’s nonetheless taken on an urgency given Trump’s return to power.
The publisher’s notes read, “Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone days after Trump was inaugurated, Snyder emphasized the importance of protest. “You can’t despair. Because that’s what they want. They want you to think that it’s hopeless. It’s never hopeless.”
