Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/107982813?utm_campaign=postshare_creator" rel="noopener noreferrer">patreon.com/knowyourenemy.</a>In this conversation, Matt and Sam range widely, beginning with Sam's recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/books/review/53-days-timothy-ryback.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NYT review</a> of a book explaining how Hitler "dismantled a democracy in 53 days" then discussing the late, great conservative historian John Lukacs's Hitler of History, a survey of the many biographies written of the Nazi dictator. What makes for a useful historical analogy, especially in our age of the "fascism debate"? What about the past can we truly understand? And what should induce us to humility? From there, your co-hosts press on to more contemporary matters: Charlie Kirk's assassination, one year later, and how its consequences seem so different now than in the days after his death; how to know what truly matters now, to say nothing of hindsight; the slopification and inundation of our political consciences; and more!Sources:Sam Adler-Bell, "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/books/review/53-days-timothy-ryback.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">What the Third Reich Can Teach Us About America Today</a>," New York Times, Sept 1, 2026Timothy W. Ryback, <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/53-Days/Timothy-W-Ryback/9781668195703" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">53 Days: How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy</a> (2026)— "<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/hitler-germany-constitution-authoritarianism/681233/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days</a>," The Atlantic, Jan 8, 2025John Lukacs, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/104451/the-hitler-of-history-by-john-lukacs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Hitler of History</a> (1997)— <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300089158/the-last-european-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Last European War: September 1939–December 1941</a> (1976)— <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Historical-Consciousness-The-Remembered-Past/Lukacs/p/book/9781560007326" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Historical Consciousness: The Remembered Past</a> (1968)Adam Tooze, <a href="https://adamtooze.com/the-wages-of-destruction/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy</a> (2006)

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