Book Review:

Participants are invited to read the book or just listen to the review and participate in the discussion.

How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, Professors of Government at Harvard University. 

“ The book focuses on norms that are  vital to the fabric of democracy, including "shared codes of conduct that become common knowledge within a particular community or society -- accepted, respected and enforced by its members"  Two of the most important are (i) mutual toleration, i.e. the belief that political opponents are not enemies, and (ii) institutional forbearance, i.e. "avoiding actions that, while respecting the letter of the law, obviously violate its spirit", that presidents shouldn't undermine another coequal branch (such as the court system). Calling such norms the "guardrails of democracy,"