April 2025 The Growing Edge Podcast -Episode 59: Practical Ways to Stay Engaged —A Discussion of On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder

Hi Folks,

I hope you join Parker J. Palmer and I for this month’s The Growing Edge Podcast. I very much appreciated our conversation about historian Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny. In the podcast we discuss four of the twenty hallmarks of authoritarian governments addressed in Synder’s clear and informative work. The book is relatively short, but chock-full of insights, stories and practical advice when navigating the very real challenges of our times.

Together we explore the large overarching symptoms of an existential threat to our democracy, but also how to bring it home and to focus upon the power we each have in our daily and personal lives for defending and preserving our most deeply held values, community and national aspirations.

Personally, I feel this is a book that every American should read in these challenging times - for clarification on what is happening, but also to gain insights on how everyday people pushed back and made a difference by doing what was theirs to do, in daily, human sized ways.

And it was fun to sing a new song “Lifeline” co-written with my good friend John McCutcheon live on the program.

Here is a link to Bookshop.org Link for purchasing On Tyranny https://tinyurl.com/5n8bedpjhttps://tinyurl.com/5n8bedpj

Also, here are links to Parker J. Palmer’s powerful On Being 2016 article “Will Fascism Trump Democracy” and his powerful book on democracy and citizenship Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit. It has been recently reissued as a 10th anniversary edition with Parker’s new and powerful introduction.

Here’s a link to Timothy Snyder’s Substack newsletter and a video of John Lithgow.

Please feel free to share this with anyone you know who is feeling overwhelmed or a little bit alone in these challenging times. Remember we are many and we are great with love.

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Question

Was there any part of this conversation that particularly interested you? Did you get any new ideas for staying engaged in these challenging times?

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from the Edge from Parker and myself, information on Parker’s online events here’s the Link.

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