What's one book you would recommend...

[GuiltyCowboy]

...that explains how we arrived at this authoritarian moment?

And why would you pick that book?

For me, it would be Jane Mayer's Dark Money, which explains how a small group of insanely rich people spent years building an extremely effective propaganda machine for the purpose for their own interests.

If you believe that tax cuts promote growth, rich people create jobs, and regulations are bad - this book will explain how those particular ideas were planted into your head.



What are your best recommendations?

 

[LLCox]

Best first one hundred pages in Si Fi. Steakley wrote this book then died.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson is a good, readable history that details how an “authoritarian experiment” is upending democracy.

 

[goldytheGoldfish]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hocus_Pocus_(novel)

In the notes, the author discloses he did the writing piece by piece on scraps of paper in a library and then patched the book together afterwords. I bought a signed copy for someone as a gift. It's very easy to read. One time I saw it in the background on someone's bookshelf in a news interview and cheered a little. Will that tell you anything about what's happening now?

 

[Rightguide]

American Caesar, William Manchester

 

[BoredDirtyCommie]

Just one book? I could offer up a dozen, but for just one:

The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World by Max Fisher

 

[GuiltyCowboy]

Thanks for the replies. Genuinely interesting.

If you feel like saying why that book in particular is so relevant to today's moment, then that would also be worth hearing about, I think; speaking for myself, I don't know some of these books.

 

[joclfc]

LOTR Obviously, J.R.R
Tolkien

 

[Cat]

Kafka; The Castle.

 

[SebastianHolt]

...that explains how we arrived at this authoritarian moment?

And why would you pick that book?

For me, it would be Jane Mayer's Dark Money, which explains how a small group of insanely rich people spent years building an extremely effective propaganda machine for the purpose for their own interests.

If you believe that tax cuts promote growth, rich people create jobs, and regulations are bad - this book will explain how those particular ideas were planted into your head.

View attachment 2611252

What are your best recommendations?

Dark money is interfering because we have the left aka AVG jane doe which is sitting on her fingers and not doing a thing to improve her life

 

[Wilson23]

"The Next American Nation" by Michael Lind.

 

[Chernosoth]

I don't see more than the average American amount of authoritarianism. The only current outlier is Trump starting a war with immediate action, instead of months of war propaganda. The Bush admin was more authoritarian when it shut down many internet sites and committed mass torture.

 

[BoredDirtyCommie]

Thanks for the replies. Genuinely interesting.

If you feel like saying why that book in particular is so relevant to today's moment, then that would also be worth hearing about, I think; speaking for myself, I don't know some of these books.

Authoritarian are coming to power through social media. Their algorithms incentivize rage bait so that the biggest assholes get the most attention. Authoritarians are typically giant assholes in public spaces, so they use the algorithms to get free advertising.

 

[BoredDirtyCommie]

I don't see more than the average American amount of authoritarianism. The only current outlier is Trump starting a war with immediate action, instead of months of war propaganda. The Bush admin was more authoritarian when it shut down many internet sites and committed mass torture.

They asked for book recommendations, jackass.

 

[Wilson23]

"Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America," by Kurt Andersen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_Geniuses:_The_Unmaking_of_America

 

[Chernosoth]

They asked for book recommendations, jackass.

Something about manners and polite discussion. Or swordsmanship, rules of dueling with pistols, etc.

 

[eric_erosfan]

American Caesar, William Manchester

Oh fuck. We thought you were dead so we sold all your shit.

 

[Wilson23]

"It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism," by Mann and Orstein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_Even_Worse_Than_It_Looks

 

[Lazaran]

Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”.

Or if you don’t have the time, just watch the movie with Henry Fonda.





We. Told. Them. So.

 

[Wilson23]

American Caesar, William Manchester

No, that's about General Macarthur, who really has nothing to do with THIS authoritarian moment.

 

[Chernosoth]

I'm not masochistic enough to read Hillary Clinton's post-election book, but I have seen it mentioned as blaming anyone and anything except her own campaign incompetence. That may say enough about Trump's election, but her books are affordably priced at used book sites.

For something with more lasting value than politicians' vanity books, I suggest Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, partly to remind myself to read it someday. I bought a copy years ago then realized that it is almost unreadable with tiny print too close to the book binding. I'll read a digital copy. I also recommend a general study of world history. Trump is very typical for this stage of history, a populist in a crisis period.

 

[BoredDirtyCommie]

I'm not masochistic enough to read Hillary Clinton's post-election book, but I have seen it mentioned as blaming anyone and anything except her own campaign incompetence. That may say enough about Trump's election, but her books are affordably priced at used book sites.

For something with more lasting value than politicians' vanity books, I suggest Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, partly to remind myself to read it someday. I bought a copy years ago then realized that it is almost unreadable with tiny print too close to the book binding. I'll read a digital copy. I also recommend a general study of world history. Trump is very typical for this stage of history, a populist in a crisis period.

Have you tried actually reading a book?

This pseudo-intellectual thing you have going on here really doesn't work when you can't tell people a single book that you've read.

 

[Chernosoth]

Have you tried actually reading a book?

I read more when I had younger eyes. Now with middle aged eyes, I am more selective. I generally aim higher than manifestos of failed political ideology.

 

[BoredDirtyCommie]

I read more when I had younger eyes. Now with middle aged eyes, I am more selective. I generally aim higher than manifestos of failed political ideology.

You don't aim at all.

Yes, I'm shaming you for not reading books. Dumbass.

 

[Rightguide]

No, that's about General Macarthur, who really has nothing to do with THIS authoritarian moment.

You should have read the book before spouting off. American Caesar, American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880–1964, does more than recount the life of Douglas MacArthur; it mythologizes him. William Manchester writes with such narrative force and admiration that MacArthur emerges not merely as a flawed commander, but as a near-messianic figure, embattled, misunderstood, and ultimately vindicated by history rather than constrained by institutions.

That framing can subtly condition readers to view strong, willful leadership, especially leadership that resists civilian oversight, as admirable rather than dangerous. MacArthur’s repeated clashes with presidents, most notably Harry S. Truman, are presented less as cautionary tales about civilian control of the military and more as tragic episodes of a great man being held back by lesser political minds.

The downstream effect is cultural, not immediate: when a widely read work elevates a figure who skirts constitutional boundaries while portraying him as heroic, it helps normalize the idea that exceptional individuals should override procedural limits in moments of crisis. Over time, that aesthetic, of the lone, decisive figure standing above the system, can feed into what people now call an “authoritarian moment,” where institutional restraint is seen as weakness and personal authority as strength.

In short, the book doesn’t advocate authoritarianism outright. But by romanticizing a figure who often operated at its edge, it contributes to a broader narrative: that greatness and constraint are incompatible, and that, in times of tension, the former should win.

One of the most consequential episodes in American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880–1964 is Douglas MacArthur’s tenure as Supreme Commander during the occupation of Japan. William Manchester portrays this period as a triumph of enlightened, almost paternal authority, MacArthur ruling with sweeping, quasi-imperial discretion while reshaping an entire հասարակiety’s political and social structure.

What’s often underemphasized, however, is that this was governance with minimal democratic constraint: directives flowed from a single office, dissent was tightly managed, and legitimacy rested heavily on MacArthur’s personal authority. The fact that many Japanese accepted, or at least adapted to, this arrangement can be read in two ways. On one hand, it reflects the preexisting conditioning of a society that had just emerged from an imperial system centered on obedience and hierarchy. On the other, it risks reinforcing the idea that such top-down control can be not only effective, but broadly acceptable if exercised by a “benevolent” figure.

In Manchester’s telling, the occupation becomes less a case study in the temporary necessity of centralized authority under extraordinary circumstances and more an example of how a singular, decisive leader can successfully reorder a society. That distinction matters. When readers absorb this episode through a lens of admiration, it can subtly validate the notion that expansive, personalized power, unchecked by normal institutional limits, is justified if it produces stability or reform.

So the Japanese example doesn’t just illustrate MacArthur’s authority; it strengthens the book’s underlying theme: that in moments of upheaval, concentrated power in the hands of the “right” individual can be both legitimate and desirable. That’s precisely the kind of narrative that can echo forward into modern debates about authority, leadership, and the role of constraints.

RG