Sign in with Facebook
Julie Stout's Reviews > How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future
How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future
by
by
I had expected to find here a serious political analysis. Instead, got treated to anti-Trump ranting and Democrat party pablum. The author's central thesis seems to be that American democracy was all well and good until Trump got elected, and I'm like??? Not for a serious reader of history or political science.
Bewildering to me were many statements made about 20th century events. For example, American instigation of coups to overthrow democratically elected governments in South America, as if the CIA and billions of dollars of American foreign "aid" had no influence. The authors talk about Hugo Chavez without any mention of mention of America's foreign policy objectives as if they are irrelevant to the fall of democracy in Venezuela. WTF! I lived through that time and read the New York Times. This is just one tiny example. It's difficult to read a few sentences without seeing serious flaws in the authors' characterizations of basic events in recent history.
I can't understand who the authors intended for their target audience. If you read a newspaper and listen to NPR or are "woke" in the slighhhhhtest bit, this book is a complete waste of time because it's garbage. Alternately, if you're a Republican, you're not going to want to read 200 pages about how someone hates Donald Trump. And if like me, you were picking this up hoping to actually learn something, my advice is to look elsewhere.
Bewildering to me were many statements made about 20th century events. For example, American instigation of coups to overthrow democratically elected governments in South America, as if the CIA and billions of dollars of American foreign "aid" had no influence. The authors talk about Hugo Chavez without any mention of mention of America's foreign policy objectives as if they are irrelevant to the fall of democracy in Venezuela. WTF! I lived through that time and read the New York Times. This is just one tiny example. It's difficult to read a few sentences without seeing serious flaws in the authors' characterizations of basic events in recent history.
I can't understand who the authors intended for their target audience. If you read a newspaper and listen to NPR or are "woke" in the slighhhhhtest bit, this book is a complete waste of time because it's garbage. Alternately, if you're a Republican, you're not going to want to read 200 pages about how someone hates Donald Trump. And if like me, you were picking this up hoping to actually learn something, my advice is to look elsewhere.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
How Democracies Die.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
September 12, 2018
– Shelved
September 12, 2018
– Shelved as:
to-read
September 12, 2018
– Shelved as:
hated
September 12, 2018
– Shelved as:
stated-reading-then-abandoned
Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
David
(new)
-
rated it 5 stars
Jul 11, 2019 11:41AM
Did you read the entire book? I would agree that the author is not a Trump supporter, but the vast majority of this book is not an attack against Trump per-se, but rather an exploration of the concept of democracy, and the conditions necessary for it to be sustained. Numerous examples from history are discussed, e.g., Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus, FDR’s attempt to stack the Supreme Court, McCarthyism, in the US and failures of democracies in Chile, Spain, Germany to name a few.
reply
|
flag
All to compare Trump to Erdogan and Chavez. This book is a joke
For starters, a 4.24 rating at G/R is not really all that terrible & whether of not Julie actually did read the entire book, most of the reviews at this site are far more thoughtful than hers.
This book is pro elite in power in US and anti populist the world over. It is in a way justifying interventions by the sate department because general public can destroy the democracies
Thanks for the heads up on this book. I just finished re-reading 1984 by George Orwell — the left borrowed quite a few — doublethink, doublespeak, and as you mentioned the re-writing of history to suit their current narrative. For a really good read, I highly recommend Glenn Beck’s most recent book, “The Great Reset,” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
The main contention of the authors is that democracy cannot survive without mutual respect and tolerance for political opponents. As some of the above comments show, those who perceive themselves as winning in the current "all's fair" and "Devil take the hindmost" brand of politics now in vogue are not interested in changing it.
