A citizen asked Benjamin Franklin what form of government the Constitutional delegates had created. He replied: “A republic, if you can keep it.” The words remain true today, with New York Times best-selling author Timothy Snyder challenging us to act on the responsibilities before us if democracy is to not only persist but flourish.

Snyder is the Temerty Chair in Modern European History at the University of Toronto and the author of Our Malady, On Tyranny, On Freedom, Black Earth, The Road to Unfreedom, and Bloodlands. His works have been published in 40 languages and have received high-level recognition, including the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award.

He has made numerous podcast, radio, and television appearances, including on Amanpour & Company and MS NOW’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” special “We the People.”

Snyder earned his bachelor’s degree from Brown University and his doctorate in modern history at the University of Oxford and is a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. He is renowned for his extensive academic research and prolific public intellectual writing.