glimmer

Long Night of Solace

As the American empire unravels before our eyes, echoes of past collapses—Rome, the Weimar Republic, the Soviet Union—remind us that decline is not a singular event but a process, one that can be studied, understood, and endured. These books explore the rise of fascism, the fall of superpowers, and the lives of those who survived the wreckage. Some offer practical wisdom for resisting authoritarianism, while others document the brutal realities of political and economic collapse. Together, they form a guide to navigating the darkness ahead, not with naïve optimism, but with the hard-earned knowledge that even in the longest night, understanding can be a kind of solace.

A Paradise Built in Hell
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union
Fascism: A Warning
How Democracies Die
Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia
On Tyranny
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets
The Origins of Totalitarianism
The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic
They Thought They Were Free