I give a lot of interviews. Rarely a day goes by that I’m not clicking on a Zoom link (or two, or three), or making arrangements for the next interview. I can’t do them all, and whenever possible, I send reporters and podcasters to other scholars who can cover topics just as well, if not better. Still, it can feel overwhelming.

To be honest, many days it’s hard to justify keeping this up. In previous years, my motivation was to educate as many people as I could to prevent this all from happening. That didn’t work out so well, so in the aftermath of the 2024 election, I considered pulling back and reclaiming my time. But the requests kept coming, including many from overseas. Other countries watching what was unfolding here wanted to educate their citizens, and their politicians. This, too, feels like a compelling reason to accept interview requests, so I keep at it. (Except for lengthy in-person television/film requests—until I finish my book, I’ve decided to decline nearly all of those.)

[As a side note, those of you supporting this Substack through a paid subscription are directly responsible for these interviews—there is no way I could keep up this schedule while teaching full-time, and the financial support I receive here enables me to reduce my teaching load in order to keep up this public-facing work. Think of your subscription going directly to coverage in Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, the UK, and elsewhere.]

In the course of carrying on, I’ve come to realize that prevention isn’t the only reason to do this work. Now that that ship has sailed, preparation for what unfolds day to day remains critical. This is why I’ve been adding things to my plate right now, hosting conversations on top of all the other interviews. These conversations are different, though—they’re not just looking back to understand how we got here, but they’re using lessons from the past to prepare us for different scenarios going forward.

Last week, I had a conversation with my former colleague Bruce Berglund, a historian of Eastern Europe, about Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny. Of the hundreds of interviews I’ve done over the years, this one is one of my favorites. One of the reasons I liked this one so much is because I got to ask questions, not just answer them. And I was asking the right person.

As Snyder describes in his book, it was Eastern Europeans and historians of Eastern Europe who were among the first to raise alarms a decade back. I’d forgotten Snyder had mentioned that in the book when I arranged this event, but upon re-reading, I realized there was a reason I wanted to bring Bruce into this conversation with me.

Bruce and I talked about anticipatory obedience, and how that shows regimes what is possible. We talked about how small acts of public courage can puncture a culture of fear. We talked about specific things that can be done, and about risks. As an expert in East European history, Bruce brings the specifics—he has a wealth of stories on which to draw, from history and from his own experiences of having lived in Eastern Europe off and on for decades now.

I encourage you to listen to the full conversation here:

One of the things we talked about is Snyder’s encouragement to fight disinformation and the bewildering post-truth culture by reading books. That’s the inspiration behind our “Summer Read.” It’s also the inspiration behind the online course Bruce is going to be teaching this fall. (Full disclosure: I recruited Bruce to teach this course because I can’t think of an area of study that is more critical to this moment.)

Twentieth-Century Authoritarianism: Lessons in Resistance and Complicity

Instructor: Dr. Bruce Berglund
Format: Live on Zoom · 8 weeks · Thursdays, 6:30 pm ET · Sept 11 – Nov 6

Courses like this aren’t for everyone. It’s an 8-week course that involves reading (that’s the point) and it costs a small fee. (It’s under $300 USD for auditors—who participate fully except for papers and exams—but it can also be taken for credit for an additional fee; more info here.) Not everyone is at a place in their life where they can devote time to a course like this, but some of us should. Also, I can attest that Bruce is a master teacher, and the course will be interactive and include online discussions that I guarantee will be fascinating, poignant, and provocative.

The course isn’t just about what’s gone wrong in history. It includes stories of complicity and stories of resistance and resilience. History doesn’t offer pat answers, but it does make us wiser in the present. We need more of us to have a deeper understanding and to be able to offer greater wisdom in this moment.

If a full course isn’t for you, listening to our conversation is a good alternative. And consider joining us for our next “Big Read” coming this fall. We’ve selected a brand new book for that one: Hanna Reichel’s For Such a Time as This. It’s so new, it isn’t out yet. I’ll write another post about that book soon because I have a lot to say about it, but if you want to have it as soon as it releases, the publisher has offered a special pre-order discount code just for us: click here and enter FALLREAD40. (This should bring the cost to around $12.)

Disclaimer: It occurs to me that while I’m hyping courses and books that cost money, I should add that I receive no commission on any of this. :) If you take a course, you’ll help the institution break even (hopefully!). If you buy a book, it supports authors and signals to publishers that they should publish and promote more books like this. But I know that not everyone has the budget for such things—watching YouTube interviews and listening to podcasts for free is also a great idea, libraries are always an excellent option, and sharing books is also a wonderful idea. If you do have disposable income, consider buying a few books for friends, church libraries, etc. I’m going to be promoting the heck out of this book not to do anyone any favors but simply because I want as many people to read it as possible, however you get your hands on it.

Finally, I’ll share one more link. At our last Convocation Unscripted, we took a few minutes up top to check in on how we’re feeling in the midst of everything. We’ve heard from many listeners that it was important for them to hear these things from us. Vulnerability usually isn’t my thing, but I thought I’d share this in case it can be helpful to you as well. (I can’t say it’s particularly encouraging, but it is an honest assessment.)

You can listen here:

I may be a little quieter here for the next couple of weeks, as I’m about to embark on our annual summer vacation—with stops in WI, MN, and IA. And yes, we’re taking the dog with us…that’s a first for us, so wish us luck. Now that I think of it, that saga alone will probably warrant a special vacation post...

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