Whatever your political beliefs, you are likely to be concerned about the potential impact of destructive political leaders on your country and those you love. You may want to do something about this but feel limited in your ability to make a difference. Based on his extensive experience in the political world, Ira Chaleff demonstrates that we have more power than we think. But this power must be used in timely and politically savvy ways. He unpacks the choices for action depending on our circle of influence in relation to leaders—both those we support and oppose—and identifies the window of opportunity for interrupting a progression from governance to tyrannical rule. The window in which you need to act before it closes. Chaleff spent thirty years with a non-partisan organization in Washington, D.C., working to improve communication between constituents and their elected representatives. He has seen the best and worst of both Democrats and Republicans. He understands the influential role played by their staffs and constituents. He will show you, too, how to make a difference. Building on the success of his award-winning books, The Courageous Follower and Intelligent Disobedience, Chaleff’s timely new book provides a map for creating better political leadership—the leadership we crave for our communities and our nation – through better followership. His work with the US Congress took him to engagements in countries struggling to establish viable democracies after years of dictatorial rule. His work with federal executive-branch agencies gave him further insight into the relationship of elected officials, their political appointees, and career civil servants. Even readers with long histories of government service will find new ways of navigating the dilemmas they face. Chaleff’s ideas on leadership, and his unique perspective on followership, have found their way into the cultures of the US military and civilian agencies, and globally in institutions such as the European Union, the British Army, and African and Asian leadership development programs. He has served on the board of the International Leadership Association and was a visiting leadership scholar at Churchill College, The University of Cambridge, England. He continues to work with the global followership community and to write and lecture from his home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “bracing” (Vox) guide for surviving and resisting America’s turn towards authoritarianism, from “a rising public intellectual unafraid to make bold connections between past and present” (The New York Times) “Timothy Snyder reasons with unparalleled clarity, throwing the past and future into sharp relief. He has written the rare kind of book that can be read in one sitting but will keep you coming back to help regain your bearings.”—Masha Gessen The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. 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. On Tyranny is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come.

Today the deadliest conflicts are not between states but rather within them, pitting tyrants against the populations they oppress. Over a century of data shows that civil resistance campaigns-employing strikes, boycotts, mass protests, and many other nonviolent tactics-are the most powerful means for societies to confront authoritarians. The Checklist to End Tyranny is dedicated to enabling dissidents to become more strategic in their thinking and therefore more skillful in their quest to achieve democracy and human rights. This volume is also a unique resource in helping professionals in the foreign policy and democracy promotion communities to understand at a granular level what it takes for pro-democracy activists to end the dictatorships they are living under. The stakes could not be higher. If the world is to have a Fourth Democratic Wave expanding freedom over oppression, then civil resistance campaigns will lead the way.

"Brilliant, beautifully organized, exceedingly readable." —Philip Roth World-renowned Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt explores the playwright’s insight into bad (and often mad) rulers. Examining the psyche—and psychoses—of the likes of Richard III, Macbeth, Lear, and Coriolanus, Greenblatt illuminates the ways in which William Shakespeare delved into the lust for absolute power and the disasters visited upon the societies over which these characters rule. Tyrant shows that Shakespeare’s work remains vitally relevant today, not least in its probing of the unquenchable, narcissistic appetites of demagogues and the self-destructive willingness of collaborators who indulge their appetites.

I've fallen in love with Cato, and I'm not afraid to say it.He doesn't need to say it back. I know how he feels.Even if he doesn't have the balls to admit it.Our daughter will be here soon, and our lives will change forever.Will Cato let go of the past? Let go of the promise he made to execute me?Or should I have never come back?

Deep in the Crusades, Tom has run away from home to discover what the noble life of a knight is really like. But now that his dreams have come true and he has been knighted, all is not as rosy as he'd hoped. Terry Jones is known for his work with Monty Python, his stories for children (which won him the Children's Book Award) and his medieval books. In The Tyrant and the Squire he uses his inimitable comic imagination and originality to combine all three of these elements and create a perfect story for children and grown-ups alike. The Tyrant and the Squire is a glorious adventure from one of the UK's beloved comic performers.

Power grabs, partisan stand-offs, propaganda, and riots make for tantalizing fiction, but what do we do when that drama becomes a reality all around us? For a country founded as an escape from British tyranny, the United States seems to have devolved into a land where tyrants rise to power, sycophants blindly follow, and the entire nation suffers. As ancient Greek philosophers warned us, chaotic tragedy unfolds in the absence of reason, and the only cure is a return to wisdom and virtue. America’s founding fathers knew this lesson all too well and dreamed of an enlightened citizenry guided by better-than-ideological dictators. Using contemporary events to illuminate universal human weaknesses, Andrew Fiala charts the perennial history of tyrannical takeovers and the masses who support them and ultimately suffer under their rule. Ultimately, Fiala also points to a solution. Knowing the cyclical nature of tyranny, we can build safeguards against our worst inclinations and keep alive the freedoms our founding fathers envisioned for this nation.