A Return to Common Sense
By Leigh McGowan
Political Science/Current Events
Atria
September 2024
Erasing History
By Jason Stanley
Political Science/Current Events
Atria
September 2024
On Freedom
By Timothy Snyder
Political Science/Current Events
Crown
September 2024
Three important, easily accessible books about the current situation have been published this month. All three are worthwhile.
A Return to Common Sense by Leigh McGowan, known as Politics Girl, was inspired by Thomas Paine's Common Sense. It outlines six American principles to help get the idea of America back on track.
The book, which publishes on Tuesday, also has a superb description of who does what in the federal government. It's a primer that may not be necessary if you already are a history/politics geek. But it is a great reminder of how things are supposed to work. Which can be inspiring.
For example, her description of the president is "a visionary with serious administrative skills". Nowhere is having a beer with or the ability to golf mentioned.
Her six principles are:
1. America is a land of freedom.
2. Everyone should have this opportunity to rise.
3. Every citizen should have a vote, and that vote should count.
4. Representatives should represent the people who elected them.
5. That law applies to all of us.
6. Government should be a force for good.
Also coming out on Tuesday is the latest by Yale historian Timothy Snyder, On Freedom. The author of On Tyranny, while visiting an elderly woman in Ukraine, notes that "Freedom is not just an absence of evil but a presence of good."
In his argument of freedom as a foundational condition that provides the space for good things to happen, Snyder calls it a presence, not an absence. He writes about the importance of freedom and safety working together.
Published last week was Yale professor Jason Stanley's Erasing History. Stanley, who has written about fascism before, describes how and why recreating the past is an essential part of the authoritarian playbook.
History, he writes, threatens them, especially because it consists of more than one way to look at the past. He writes:
Authoritarianism's great rival, democracy, requires the recognition of a shared reality that consists of multiple perspectives. Through exposure to multiple perspectives, citizens learn to regard one another as equal contributors to a national narrative. ...
Erasing history helps authoritarians because doing so allows them to misrepresent it as a single story.
Any or all of these books, any or all of their contents, are powerful reminders and arguments of what it at stake right now. They contain eloquent descriptions of reality, backed by inspiration of our better selves.