Mountain View Book Club

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder.
Non-Fiction, 128 pages, Paperback, 2017.
Kepler's
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK • INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
Drawing on the darkest chapters of twentieth-century European history, acclaimed historian Timothy Snyder offers twenty concise lessons for recognizing authoritarianism, defending democratic institutions, and preserving individual freedom.
“Timothy Snyder reasons with unparalleled clarity, throwing the past and future into sharp relief.” —Masha Gessen
“Please read this book. So smart, so timely.” —George Saunders
“Clarifying and unnerving.” —Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post
In On Tyranny, historian Timothy Snyder looks to the experiences of twentieth-century Europe—when democracies collapsed into fascism, Nazism, and communism—to ask what those experiences can teach citizens today. His central warning is that democratic institutions do not protect themselves: they survive only when individuals understand their vulnerability and actively defend them.
Snyder distills history into twenty brief, practical lessons. Among them: do not obey in advance; defend institutions; beware the one-party state; remember professional ethics; investigate rather than passively accepting what you hear; contribute to organizations that defend causes you value; and take responsibility for the world around you.
Compact and deliberately accessible, the book connects the rise of twentieth-century totalitarian regimes with the choices ordinary people make when democratic norms come under pressure. Rather than treating tyranny as something imposed suddenly from above, Snyder emphasizes how authoritarian power can grow through conformity, indifference, manipulation of language, attacks on truth, and the gradual weakening of institutions.
At only 128 pages, On Tyranny is both a concise work of history and a practical guide to citizenship—a provocative argument that understanding the failures of earlier democracies can help citizens recognize threats to freedom and decide how to respond to them.

Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy, by Joyce Vance. Non-Fiction, 224 pages, Hardcover, 2025.
Kepler's.
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • KIRKUS: “A HOPEFUL MANIFESTO FOR A RENEWED DEMOCRACY” • FROM FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY JOYCE VANCE
Part history lesson, part civics primer, and part call to action, Giving Up Is Unforgivable offers a hopeful argument for defending the rule of law and strengthening the habits and institutions on which American democracy depends.
“Brilliant, galvanizing, and inspirational.” —Mary L. Trump
“A hopeful manifesto for a renewed democracy.” —Kirkus Reviews
Joyce Vance spent twenty-five years as a federal prosecutor and served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. In Giving Up Is Unforgivable, she draws on that experience to explain the legal and historical foundations of American democracy, the importance of the rule of law, and the ways democratic norms and institutions can come under pressure.
Vance places the current political moment in historical context while asking a practical question: what can ordinary citizens do when they believe democracy itself is at risk? Her answer ranges from voting and participating in civic organizations to talking with people who disagree with us, supporting democratic institutions, and becoming more directly involved in public life. Rather than encouraging despair or political exhaustion, she argues for sustained citizen engagement.
At its heart, the book is an argument against helplessness. Vance acknowledges the seriousness of the challenges she sees facing American democracy while maintaining that citizens retain considerable power to shape its future. Accessible, concise, and deliberately hopeful, Giving Up Is Unforgivable combines constitutional history, contemporary politics, and a call for Americans to exercise the responsibilities of citizenship.

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Fiction. 367 pages. Hardcover. 2024.
Today Show Read With Jenna Book Club Pick. #1 Indie Next Pick. Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award.
Kepler's
A darkly funny, tender novel about a woman at rock bottom who finds unexpected connection during a wedding weekend in Newport.
“Sparkling . . .” — Publishers Weekly
“Witty dialogue” — Library Journal
It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives alone at the Cornwall Inn, where she is immediately mistaken for one of the wedding guests. She is not there for the wedding at all, but for a very different reason. As the weekend unfolds, Phoebe becomes entangled with the bride and the wedding crowd in ways none of them expected.
By turns sharp, funny, and deeply humane, The Wedding People explores grief, loneliness, friendship, and the strange ways life can change course when we least expect it. It has been praised for its emotional depth, memorable characters, and its balance of humor and heartbreak.

**Venue**: Red Rock has kindly given us this rental space for free. Please consider making a purchase to support them. Thanks!

Fiction. 368 pages. Hardcover. 2026.
Most anticipated by The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and Literary Hub.
Kepler's
A powerful coming-of-age novel about guilt, innocence, and a boy on the cusp of adolescence.
“A tour de force.” — The Atlantic
“A classic bildungsroman.” — The New York Times
From Pulitzer Prize finalist Chang-rae Lee comes a richly observed novel centered on Jeon-Gi, a Korean American boy growing up in the 1970s. At home, he is cherished by his working-class immigrant parents; outside, he is swept up in the rough loyalties and dangers of childhood among neighborhood boys. As he approaches adolescence, one summer’s events send consequences rippling far beyond himself.
At once intimate and expansive, A Tender Age explores family, masculinity, memory, and the painful formation of identity. Chang-rae Lee brings emotional precision and moral complexity to this portrait of a young person standing at the edge of adult knowledge.

**Venue**: Red Rock has kindly given us this rental space for free. Please consider making a purchase to support them. Thanks!