Listen free for 30 days
-
Twilight of Democracy
- The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism
- Narrated by: Anne Applebaum
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Politics & Social Sciences, Politics & Government
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Audible Membership
$14.95 a month
Buy Now for $26.32
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Freezing Order
- A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, State-Sponsored Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath
- Written by: Bill Browder
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Browder’s young Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in a Moscow jail in 2009, Browder cast aside his business career and made it his life’s mission to pursue justice for Sergei. One of the first steps of that mission was to uncover who had killed Sergei and profited from the $230 million corruption scheme that he had exposed. As Browder and his team tracked the money that flowed out of Russia—through the Baltics and Cyprus and on to Western Europe and the Americas—they discovered that Vladimir Putin himself was one of the beneficiaries of the crime.
-
-
I loved it!
- By Sam on 2022-05-09
Written by: Bill Browder
-
This Will Not Pass
- Trump, Biden and the Battle for American Democracy
- Written by: Jonathan Martin, Alexander Burns
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the authoritative account of an 18-month crisis in American democracy that will be seared into the country’s political memory for decades to come. With stunning, in-the-room detail, New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns show how both our political parties confronted a series of national traumas, including the coronavirus pandemic, the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and the political brinksmanship of President Biden’s first year in the White House.
Written by: Jonathan Martin, and others
-
Evil Geniuses
- The Unmaking of America: A Recent History
- Written by: Kurt Andersen
- Narrated by: Kurt Andersen
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the 20th century, America managed to make its economic and social systems both more and more fair and more and more prosperous. A huge, secure, and contented middle class emerged. All boats rose together. But then the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right-wing zealots, the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled.
-
-
A Chilling Narrative
- By Gerald Demooy on 2020-09-03
Written by: Kurt Andersen
-
Strongmen
- Mussolini to the Present
- Written by: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
- Narrated by: Chloe Cannon
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is the expert on the "strongman" playbook employed by authoritarian demagogues from Mussolini to Putin. In Strongmen, she lays bare the blueprint these leaders have followed over the past 100 years, and empowers us to recognize, resist, and prevent their disastrous rule in the future.
-
-
My attention was captured by this fascinating book
- By Anonymous User on 2020-12-19
Written by: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
-
Red Famine
- Stalin's War on Ukraine
- Written by: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1929 Stalin launched his policy of agricultural collectivization - in effect a second Russian Revolution - which forced millions of peasants off their land and onto collective farms. The result was a catastrophic famine, the most lethal in European history. At least five million people died between 1931 and 1933 in the USSR. But instead of sending relief, the Soviet state made use of the catastrophe to rid itself of a political problem.
-
-
A must read
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-04-09
Written by: Anne Applebaum
-
Gulag
- A History
- Written by: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 27 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Gulag - a vast array of Soviet concentration camps that held millions of political and criminal prisoners - was a system of repression and punishment that terrorized the entire society, embodying the worst tendencies of Soviet communism. In this magisterial and acclaimed history, Anne Applebaum offers the first fully documented portrait of the Gulag, from its origins in the Russian Revolution, through its expansion under Stalin, to its collapse in the era of glasnost.
-
-
Essential reading in today's times
- By Kendall L. Harding on 2022-04-10
Written by: Anne Applebaum
-
Freezing Order
- A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, State-Sponsored Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath
- Written by: Bill Browder
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Browder’s young Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in a Moscow jail in 2009, Browder cast aside his business career and made it his life’s mission to pursue justice for Sergei. One of the first steps of that mission was to uncover who had killed Sergei and profited from the $230 million corruption scheme that he had exposed. As Browder and his team tracked the money that flowed out of Russia—through the Baltics and Cyprus and on to Western Europe and the Americas—they discovered that Vladimir Putin himself was one of the beneficiaries of the crime.
-
-
I loved it!
- By Sam on 2022-05-09
Written by: Bill Browder
-
This Will Not Pass
- Trump, Biden and the Battle for American Democracy
- Written by: Jonathan Martin, Alexander Burns
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the authoritative account of an 18-month crisis in American democracy that will be seared into the country’s political memory for decades to come. With stunning, in-the-room detail, New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns show how both our political parties confronted a series of national traumas, including the coronavirus pandemic, the January 6 attack on the Capitol, and the political brinksmanship of President Biden’s first year in the White House.
Written by: Jonathan Martin, and others
-
Evil Geniuses
- The Unmaking of America: A Recent History
- Written by: Kurt Andersen
- Narrated by: Kurt Andersen
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the 20th century, America managed to make its economic and social systems both more and more fair and more and more prosperous. A huge, secure, and contented middle class emerged. All boats rose together. But then the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right-wing zealots, the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled.
-
-
A Chilling Narrative
- By Gerald Demooy on 2020-09-03
Written by: Kurt Andersen
-
Strongmen
- Mussolini to the Present
- Written by: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
- Narrated by: Chloe Cannon
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is the expert on the "strongman" playbook employed by authoritarian demagogues from Mussolini to Putin. In Strongmen, she lays bare the blueprint these leaders have followed over the past 100 years, and empowers us to recognize, resist, and prevent their disastrous rule in the future.
-
-
My attention was captured by this fascinating book
- By Anonymous User on 2020-12-19
Written by: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
-
Red Famine
- Stalin's War on Ukraine
- Written by: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1929 Stalin launched his policy of agricultural collectivization - in effect a second Russian Revolution - which forced millions of peasants off their land and onto collective farms. The result was a catastrophic famine, the most lethal in European history. At least five million people died between 1931 and 1933 in the USSR. But instead of sending relief, the Soviet state made use of the catastrophe to rid itself of a political problem.
-
-
A must read
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-04-09
Written by: Anne Applebaum
-
Gulag
- A History
- Written by: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 27 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Gulag - a vast array of Soviet concentration camps that held millions of political and criminal prisoners - was a system of repression and punishment that terrorized the entire society, embodying the worst tendencies of Soviet communism. In this magisterial and acclaimed history, Anne Applebaum offers the first fully documented portrait of the Gulag, from its origins in the Russian Revolution, through its expansion under Stalin, to its collapse in the era of glasnost.
-
-
Essential reading in today's times
- By Kendall L. Harding on 2022-04-10
Written by: Anne Applebaum
-
It Was All a Lie
- How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump
- Written by: Stuart Stevens
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stuart Stevens spent decades electing Republicans at every level, from presidents to senators to local officials. He knows the GOP as intimately as anyone in America, and in this new book he offers a devastating portrait of a party that has lost its moral and political compass. This is not a book about how Donald J. Trump hijacked the Republican Party and changed it into something else.
-
-
Neoliberalism now reigns in America
- By srwatson on 2020-08-14
Written by: Stuart Stevens
-
Lessons from the Edge
- A Memoir
- Written by: Marie Yovanovitch
- Narrated by: Marie Yovanovitch
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the time she became US Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch had seen her share of corruption, instability, and tragedy in developing countries. But it came as a shock when, in early 2019, she was recalled from her post after a smear campaign by President Trump’s personal attorney and his associates - men operating outside of normal governmental channels, and apparently motivated by personal gain. Her courageous participation in the subsequent impeachment inquiry earned Yovanovitch the nation’s respect, and her dignified response to the president’s attacks won our hearts.
-
-
Stunning Memoir, WOMAN, Public Servant
- By Gabriela on 2022-04-08
Written by: Marie Yovanovitch
-
Iron Curtain
- The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956
- Written by: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 26 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union to its surprise and delight found itself in control of a huge swath of territory in Eastern Europe. Stalin and his secret police set out to convert a dozen radically different countries to Communism, a completely new political and moral system. In Iron Curtain, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anne Applebaum describes how the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe were created and what daily life was like once they were complete.
-
-
Brilliant and Informative
- By Josiah Logozar on 2021-03-30
Written by: Anne Applebaum
-
How Democracies Die
- Written by: Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Donald Trump's presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we'd be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent two decades studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe the answer is yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang - in a revolution or military coup - but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms.
-
-
Biased, one sided, and blatantly dishonest
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-01-06
Written by: Steven Levitsky, and others
-
On Tyranny
- Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
- Written by: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
- Length: 1 hr and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the 20th century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.
-
-
The times they are a changing!! But which way?
- By MW "Photodude." on 2019-05-06
Written by: Timothy Snyder
-
On Tyranny (Expanded Audio Edition)
- Updated with Twenty New Lessons from Russia's War on Ukraine
- Written by: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this exclusive audiobook edition, which includes eight hours of new content, Snyder combines the original essays from On Tyranny with twenty new lessons that answer the questions everyone is asking about this war. With forays into history, he clarifies the causes of the Russian invasion and the meaning of Ukrainian resistance, and explains the war's connections to threats to democracy here in the United States and around the world. Linking past and present, speaking only from notes, he guides the listener into the larger moral universe of On Tyranny.
-
-
Don’t waste your time on this Democratic slanted fable.
- By Helene Iliffe on 2022-05-14
Written by: Timothy Snyder
-
Why We're Polarized
- Written by: Ezra Klein
- Narrated by: Ezra Klein
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Why We’re Polarized, Klein reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America’s descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump’s rise to the Democratic Party’s leftward shift to the politicization of everyday culture. America is polarized, first and foremost, by identity. Everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics.
-
-
thorough discussion of the most important issue
- By Brian Katz on 2021-03-26
Written by: Ezra Klein
-
Peril
- Written by: Bob Woodward, Robert Costa
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The transition from President Donald J. Trump to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. stands as one of the most dangerous periods in American history. But as number one internationally best-selling author Bob Woodward and acclaimed reporter Robert Costa reveal for the first time, it was far more than just a domestic political crisis. Woodward and Costa interviewed more than 200 people at the center of the turmoil, resulting in more than 6,000 pages of transcripts - and a spellbinding and definitive portrait of a nation on the brink.
-
-
Even didn’t know how close the USA came to a meltdown
- By Stephen Powell on 2021-09-26
Written by: Bob Woodward, and others
-
Unthinkable
- Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy
- Written by: Jamie Raskin
- Narrated by: Jamie Raskin
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this searing memoir, Congressman Jamie Raskin tells the story of the 45 days at the start of 2021 that permanently changed his life - and his family’s - as he confronted the painful loss of his son to suicide, lived through the violent insurrection in our nation’s Capitol, and led the impeachment effort to hold President Trump accountable for inciting the political violence. Now for the first time, Congressman Raskin discusses this unimaginable convergence of personal and public trauma.
-
-
Essential reading
- By Anonymous User on 2022-05-22
Written by: Jamie Raskin
-
Midnight in Washington
- How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could
- Written by: Adam Schiff
- Narrated by: Adam Schiff
- Length: 17 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The vital inside account of American democracy in its darkest hour, from the rise of autocracy unleashed by Trump to the January 6 insurrection, and a warning that those forces remain as potent as ever - from the congressman who led the first impeachment of Donald J. Trump
-
-
gripping story
- By Anonymous User on 2021-10-17
Written by: Adam Schiff
-
Trumpocalypse
- Restoring American Democracy
- Written by: David Frum
- Narrated by: David Frum
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A huge swath of Americans have put their faith in Trump, and Trump only, because they see the rest of the country building a future that doesn't have a place for them. If they would risk their lives for Trump in a pandemic, they will certainly risk the stability of American democracy. They brought the Trumpocalypse upon the country, and a post-Trumpocalypse country will have to find a way either to reconcile them to democracy - or to protect democracy from them.
-
-
Excellent Analysis
- By GAD on 2021-01-30
Written by: David Frum
-
This Is Not Propaganda
- Adventures in the War Against Reality
- Written by: Peter Pomerantsev
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peter Pomerantsev takes us to the front lines of the disinformation age, where he meets Twitter revolutionaries and pop-up populists, "behavioral change" salesmen, Jihadi fanboys, Identitarians, truth cops, and many others. Forty years after his dissident parents were pursued by the KGB, Pomerantsev finds the Kremlin re-emerging as a great propaganda power. His research takes him back to Russia - but the answers he finds there are not what he expected.
-
-
Important work
- By Shan on 2019-09-22
Written by: Peter Pomerantsev
Publisher's Summary
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post and The Financial Times
"How did our democracy go wrong? This extraordinary document...is Applebaum's answer." (Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny)
A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian explains, with electrifying clarity, why elites in democracies around the world are turning toward nationalism and authoritarianism.
From the United States and Britain to continental Europe and beyond, liberal democracy is under siege, while authoritarianism is on the rise. In Twilight of Democracy, Anne Applebaum, an award-winning historian of Soviet atrocities who was one of the first American journalists to raise an alarm about antidemocratic trends in the West, explains the lure of nationalism and autocracy. In this captivating essay, she contends that political systems with radically simple beliefs are inherently appealing, especially when they benefit the loyal to the exclusion of everyone else.
Despotic leaders do not rule alone; they rely on political allies, bureaucrats, and media figures to pave their way and support their rule. The authoritarian and nationalist parties that have arisen within modern democracies offer new paths to wealth or power for their adherents. Applebaum describes many of the new advocates of illiberalism in countries around the world, showing how they use conspiracy theory, political polarization, social media, and even nostalgia to change their societies.
Elegantly written and urgently argued, Twilight of Democracy is a brilliant dissection of a world-shaking shift and a stirring glimpse of the road back to democratic values.
More from the same
What listeners say about Twilight of Democracy
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Chuong Nguyen
- 2022-03-27
Not her best work
Anne Applebaum is a great historian, but this is not a work of history. It’s a short, critical monograph aimed mostly at Right-wing Authoritarianism. She lost me at her Britain chapter, where she subtly includes Roger Scruton into the vehement pro-Brexit camp. Better books can, and should be written, about the rising tide of Right-wing Authoritarianism in the West. This one, unfortunately, is not one of them.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Martell Thompson
- 2021-07-05
Mandatory Reading
Thoughtful and well articulated warnings of the ongoing demise of the greatest gifts from the greatest generation. This is a must read.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- karl roth
- 2021-03-10
an insightful book
enjoyed the narration and Ms Applebaum's voice and delivery, it very much lined up with how i imagined her to be from reading her columns
i don't agree with everything Ms Applebaum has to say about the left (probably more a question of degree) and the American projection of their power (if more people in positions to do something had the idealism that Applebaum espouses on this issue i might be swayed) i am with her on her analysis and insights regarding current events, issues and governments.
i think she is one of the more or even most insightful observers and commenters currently commenting on these issues and also follow her columns for theatlantic.com
will stand with her to fight the good fight for a better more inclusive world and against nihilism.
thankyou Anne Applebaum
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- G Kozroski
- 2021-01-23
Not a lot of hope and joy
She knits together a history of events that, though not very hopeful, may alert us to the paths not to take as we head into the future. She exhorts us to care and act. Thank you for your work.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Candace Boyd
- 2020-11-23
One Sided View of the World
If you believe in globalism, then this book is for you. Not much good to say about those who believe in protectionism. To me, it sounds like the author is exactly the kind of elite that populist groups rally against.
I did appreciate her comments about how friends of twenty years ago can't even speak to one another now because political positions become entrenched. I'm afraid that is now too real and I wish we could reverse that trend.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Stan
- 2020-11-14
An insider's quality observations
Anne has got it all right. And the angle of her view somewhere from Liberal Center, from best times of the Western Civilization, yes - from year 2000 AD. Narrator is good, sometime sounds overworked.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ValD
- 2020-11-07
Totally absorbing book
The author examines the concept why authoritarianism is so seductive to formerly liberal-minded people. Those who lived in formerly totalitarian countries were expecting democracy to lead to happiness, more money , fulfilling jobs etc. So when the Soviet era collapsed they cheered and embraced ‘democracy’. But democracy is messy. Decisions are not clear and negotiations as well as political decisions mean compromise. People often prefer to be told what to do than to find a consensus that doesn’t fully satisfy anyone
The examples in Hungary really spoke to me as I am am immigrant who came to Canada. Then we saw the changes in Hungary and going back to elitism and totalitarianism.
The author is an amazing story teller/historian. She traces her personal experiences in Poland and US ans UK and describes the political and social changes after 2000.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mary-Anne
- 2020-08-16
informative on Poland and Hungary
Very interesting story of the author's personal experience and connections in Poland, Hungary, and Brittain. Short on experience and facts on the U.S. I share her distaste for authoritarianism and was sad to hear her insider's perspective on Poland and Hungary. Would have preferred more facts and details and fewer generalizations throughout.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Erik C
- 2020-08-16
Reductive and simplistic
I found the book to be a hodgepodge of the author jumping around to political issues important to the author, with little defining narrative beyond “I think this is bad”. The message of the book, which I found rather interesting, was constantly undermined by a polarizing view of a given issue. The author seems to castigate any political policy or movement she happens to disagree with as authoritarian, without respect to what authoritarianism actually is.
As an example, one example in the book goes into how authoritarians demand conformity, and are resistant to if not outright intolerant of diverse ideas. As a classically liberal, american conservative my mind went to the american left, that cancels those it disagrees with, chants “speech is violence”, is obsessed with politically correct, carefully confirmed speech, and will throw anyone that challenges the status quo out of polite society. Which treats people not as individuals but as members of groups. Isn’t that exactly what she talked about, being resistant to diverse ideas, trying to cram people into the hegemony or accepted thought?
I fully expected the author to go in this direction, but she didn’t. Instead, what was the great example of being resistant to diverse thought? Resisting immigration. Really? Maybe it is because of the different political and social landscape around me, but the book seems very arbitrary in its examples, with an obvious political bias. I’m not sure the book ever really defined authoritarianism, it more used it as a bludgeon to beat people, movements, or ideas it disagreed with. I’m not sure how Brexit, which is authoritarian...it seems quite the opposite to me, it would seem to me it’s a desire to escape the oppressive authority of Brussels, but then—as an american I must admit my ignorance on the subtlety of that situation. Regardless, the book has a few interesting insights, albeit buried in a sea of partisan name calling and agenda driven examples that amount more to “I don’t like X”.
My recommendation, read “the road to serfdom” that actually lays out the path to authoritarianism, this....not so much...
47 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- AJ
- 2020-07-23
Modern Dictators & President who wants to be them
This book gives you a close up look at how people that once suffered under Fascist, Communist or Dictatorial regimes and gained freedom of government based on hodge podge of western values have (often willingly) slipped into the iron grip of a powerfully manipulative few.
While autocrats have learned to streamline and soften the blow with their deluge of alternative facts churned through modern public relations operations. Everyday citizens, talented and educated are replaced by loyalists without experience and face a dangerously perilous future for themselves and their families. Every person eventually reaches a crossroad: Tow the party or autocrat line no matter how absurd or contradictory to what may have been said days before or risk losing everything.
The book tells the tale of those who have been through what some in the west are only experiencing now for the first time. It is a warning that should not be taken lightly.
The book shows that once momentum of an ideologue begins, the competence or lack thereof in its leader means far less to the average person then the opportunity for benefits, status and sense of belonging to something greater then themselves (real or perceived) that rains down on its loudest and most rabid supporters.
41 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kieran
- 2020-07-25
Anne Applebaum’s political diss track
First of all this book gives an excellent perspective from the authors point of view on how many public figures, especially her former friends have fallen into advocating authoritarian policies and ideas. It really gives an excellent perspective into these political figures’ thoughts and motivations for advocating conspiracy theories and undermining the rule of law. It is also really interesting to understand that the Author is talking about individuals who used to make up her own social circle. This is especially intriguing from her perspective because she has written many books on past authoritarian communist regimes in these countries. Reading this book you get the sense that this is not just a political discussion but also the author’s personal attempt to make sense of why so many of her previous friends have fallen for such bankrupt ideologies. She reads this book herself which is quite suited to the way that this book is written compared to her other works.
The only downside to this personal perspective is that it makes this book feel much less authoritative than her other works such as Gulag or Iron Curtain. If you have not read any of her previous books I would recommend reading at least one of them before reading this one.
29 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 2020-12-31
Intelligent Person that Knowingly Rewrites History
Apparently when people get elected that she doesn’t like or agree with, democracy is on the verge of ending. Also for someone to be so pro democracy why does she support unelected bureaucrats in institutions that aren’t in the constitution?
She knowingly lies about the views of Reagan and Thatcher when it comes to the European Union. She claims many times that Reagan and Thatcher supported it when the Union didn’t even exist as we know it until 1993. Thatcher supported free trade throughout Western Europe but never supported unelected Supra-National institutions that over turn democratically enacted laws across Europe.
It’s also strange how she endorses many left-wing movements like LGBT and open and free immigration and claiming how not endorsing these current movements are an end to democracy and the Reagan/Thatcher movements when they themselves never supported such things.
Another curious thing Applebaum seems to no longer understand when she clearly used to in her other books about Communism is that cultural power is stronger then political power, most of the time. A couple years in control of government is meaningless compared to the power of cultural trends as politics is downstream from cultural. Does Applebaum really believe that Trump having the top seat in the executive branch for 4-8 years is a democracy ending event when most of the Universities, Press, Hollywood, and millions of federal government officials actively oppose his presidency and agenda?
I’ll always read Applebaum’s work as much of it is highly researched and well written. Another thing about Applebaum that I like is that when I read her work I can never predict where she’s going with it. Other writers I can predict the ending conclusion based on the first paragraph. She’s contra to most political writers as she understands when the left goes to far as most writers can only understand when the right goes to far.
16 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- candy herring
- 2020-07-30
Excellent Reas
Loved it. Well written with parallels and comparisons to past and present societies. Worth your time.
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- James
- 2020-07-23
A must read
This is an extremely well written
explanation of the political mess the world seems to be
mired in today. Nothing I write in a review can do it justice, you have to read it, it’s definitely worth it
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gerald Cabrera
- 2020-07-24
Scary thing is, it's truely happening...
All around us. As I see it, history will repeat itself. Question is how far will the pendulum sway this time!
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 2021-04-19
Illuminating! Anne Applebaum
This was my second reading of this book! I loved her cosmopolitan and comprehensive analysis of events, personal, political, and profound. It portends and is predictive of what is to come globally and how 🤔 and what must be done to preserve Democracy, if it is to overcome authoritarian dominance. An excellent, timely book!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ryan
- 2020-07-27
Amazing book
A must read for our times. Please read and pass it on to your friends
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pogo
- 2020-07-27
A tour through our current political hell, guided
a Virgil who has wisdom, clear vision, and personal acquaintance with many of the demons
5 people found this helpful