Readings for Radicals, Rebels, Revolutionaries, and Rabble-rousers

[Because we've just witnessed the first widespread civil uprising in quite some time, I'm republishing this list as a reminder of how important it is to stand up against tyranny] --- Diogenes, 6/11/2020

I hope that none of you have ever or ever will experience tyranny in real life,
but there are people highly placed in government who would very much like to have more power and would like the people to have less. I offer here some reading and viewing material by people who did experience tyranny in some of its worst forms that might help you recognize authoritarianism if it ever rears its ugly head.

These are standard works that will probably be in your local library. K=Kindle

Many of these works are challenging. If you start one and hate it, just grab another.

Bradbury, Ray: Fahrenheit 451   K
Dick, Philip K.: The Man In The High Castle¹   K
Frank, Anne: The Diary Of A Young Girl   K
Lockhart, Robin Bruce: Reilly: Ace of Spies   K
Marquis, John: Papa Doc: Portrait Of A Haitian Tyrant
Orwell, George: Animal Farm   K
Orwell, George: 1984   K
Short, Philip: Pol Pot: Anatomy Of A Nightmare   K
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr: One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich   K
Trunk, Isaiah: Judenrat
Webb, William: The Dictator
Wiesel, Elie: Night   K


Hitler, Adolf: Mein Kampf   K
Mazin, Craig and Johan Renck: Chernobyl (Five-part HBO miniseries)
Powell, William: The Anarchist Cookbook   K
¹Also an Amazon Prime series


If you haven't the time to read, then meditate on these quotes:

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance"   Thomas Charlton

"The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair."   H. L. Mencken 

"We have the oldest written constitution still in force in the world, and it starts out with three words: 'We, the people.'"   Ruth Bader Ginsburg 

"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."   Abraham Lincoln


--- Diogenes, 5/13/20