The authors have Wikipedia entries. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt are academics teaching political science at Harvard University in the USA. Both study and teach comparative politics. There is a summary of their 2018 book How Democracies Dies in a Wikipedia entry.
The authors have examined the methods by which democratic representative (i.e. elected in organized elections) governments have become authoritarian in Europe, South and Central America, and Asia. It reflects a considered expert view of the issues and avoids the suspicion of populism that colored US works of US History and Political Science in the '60s. ( )

A good, concise book on the topic. It relates closely to US and yet has many insights from fledgling democracy like Pakistan. Most important aspect of the book to me was the discussion around the democratic traditions in US (or other countries) that have kept any extremist/authoritarians to come to power. Examples from Finland and Sweden were inspiring (besides US, of course). How the same failed in US in 2016 is also something to pay attention to. 4 key pointers to identify if a leader could be a future authoritarian are very interesting and a chilly reminder for people of Pakistan around the developments in past few years & the "new" leader(s). All in all, a must read! ( )

'The most important book of the Trump era' The Economist How does a democracy die? What can we do to save our own? What lessons does history teach us? In the 21st century democracy is threatened like never before. Drawing insightful lessons from across history - from Pinochet's murderous Chilean regime to Erdogan's quiet dismantling in Turkey - Levitsky and Ziblatt explain why democracies fail, how leaders like Trump subvert them today and what each of us can do to protect our democratic rights. 'This book looks to history to provide a guide for defending democratic norms when they are under threat, and finds that it is possible to fight back.' David Runciman 'A useful primer on the importance of norms, institutional restraints and civic participation in maintaining a democracy - and how quickly those things can erode when we're not paying attention' President Barack Obama 'A must-read' Andrew Marr, Sunday Times 'The greatest of the many merits of Levitsky and Ziblatt's How Democracies Die is their rejection of western exceptionalism. They tell inspiring stories I had not heard before' Nick Cohen, Observer 'Provocative, timely. One of my favourite reads this year' Elif Shafak 'Anyone who is concerned about the future of democracy should read this brisk, accessible book. Anyone who is not concerned should definitely read it' Daron Acemoglu, co-author of Why Nations Fail ( )

It could have been an interesting book. After a promising start with international and historical aims, the book narrows into a quite politicized book focused on the American politics. ( )

good book