Read a Good Book Lately? : Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt by Zackary Goncz

Not fiction, but well written, and tells a pretty tragic story too. Anyone who read this book, it really prepares you for our current moment in history unfortunately. Arendt meticulously dissects not just the authoritarian government, but the authoritarian society, and the authoritarian individual. By its focus on JS's USSR and AH's Germany, it shows us how a society becomes authoritarian as well. What stuck with me most was this notion that the authoritarian gains legitimacy through a sort of mocking dim-witted adoption of non-authoritarian structures in order to attain legitimacy, as much in their own minds as in those of the gullible masses. It's not a fun or a hopeful read, but its instructive how those with poor motives can successfully take advantage of media and then government to spread misinformation and panic and a constant state of anxiety, until a group welcomes their oppressor, who ultimately leaves them worse off than whatever silly half-imagined or temporary threat is thrust into being some existential threat by the authoritarians. Again, the notion of authoritarians creating this fun house mirror version of a liberal society, today where memes replace newspaper articles and Joe Rogan replaces Walter Cronkite, etc etc, is something I think about quite often.