skimmed through books at National Library of Singapore

I was interested in learning about the failures of democracy, anarchism and communism, respectively.

  1. “Twilight of democracy: The failure of politics and the parting of friends”. Anne Applebaum. (2020).

I feel like the author is sobbing on my shoulder. She's sad that she's lost her friends.

  1. “Why communism failed”. Jasper Becker. (2022).

Seems to portray historical attempts at utopia as a great big lie. (“The statistics are fake, and everybody got duped, and central planning failed!”) The blurb quotes a certain Head of Political Economy, who conveniently divides the world's population into two camps: pro-capitalism and pro-communism. That dude seems to believe that the two camps shall remain eternal enemies. I wonder how much this book resembles propaganda: pro-capitalism, anti-communism, propaganda.

  1. “Resistances: Between theories and the field”. Editors: Murru and Polese. (2020).

Argues that tenants engage in acts of resistance, every time they negotiate rent with their landlord. Seems to be concerned with academic analysis rather than edification.

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