Twilight of Democracy

The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

By: Anne Applebaum

Narrated by: Anne Applebaum

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • "How did our democracy go wrong? This extraordinary document ... is Applebaum's answer." —Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny

The 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. 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.

Critic reviews

“The book to buy for insight into what Trump's rise and rule really mean—here and abroad—for democracy in our time."
—Ron Elving, NPR

“Applebaum’s historical expertise and knowledge of contemporary Europe and the United States illuminate what is eternal and distinctive about the political perils facing us today . . . Twilight of Democracy offers many lessons on the long-standing struggle between democracy and dictatorship. But perhaps the most important is how fragile democracy is: Its survival depends on choices made every day by elites and ordinary people.”
—Sheri Berman, Washington Post

“An often sobering, sometimes shocking, but never despairing account of the rise of authoritarianism in the West.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books

“Anne Applebaum is a leading historian of communism and a penetrating investigator of contemporary politics. Here she sets her sights on the big question, one with which she herself has been deeply engaged in both Europe and America: How did our democracy go wrong? This extraordinary document, written with urgency, intelligence, and understanding, is her answer.”
—Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny

“Friendships torn. Ideals betrayed. Alliances broken. In this, her most personal book, a great historian explains why so many of those who won the battles for democracy or have spent their lives proclaiming its values are now succumbing to liars, thugs, and crooks. Analysis, reportage, and memoir, Twilight of Democracy fearlessly tells the shameful story of a political generation gone bad.”
—David Frum, author of Trumpocracy and Trumpocalypse

“Critically important for its muscular, oppositionist attack on the new right from within conservative ranks—and for the well-documented warning it embodies. Applebaum’s views are especially welcome because she is a deliberate thinker and astute observer rather than just the latest pundit or politico . . . A knowledgeable, rational, necessarily dark take on dark realities.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"In crisp, elegant prose . . . [Applebaum] describes the emotional power of conspiracy theories and of simple narratives that encourage national unity against a common enemy, even if that enemy is often more imagined than real."
—Christian Science Monitor

"Thought-provoking and gracefully written."
—Gabriel Schoenfeld, The American Interest

Anecdotes on Why Dictators Do So Well

The following quotes from earlier reviews give a somewhat good understanding of the story behind the book, Twilight of Democracy, by Anne Applebaum.

First the more negative, “. . . a hodgepodge of the author jumping around to political issues important to the author, with little defining narrative beyond” Second the more positive, “. . . authors point of view on how many public figures, especially her former friends have fallen into advocating authoritarian policies and ideas.”

What neither tells the reader is that Ms. Applebaum first starts with presenting her definition of why people attract to authoritarianism. Well, not hers but rather that of Hannah Arendt. Following a dictator’s conclusions as to why he needs to control is to take his simplistic assertions as fact. Perhaps simplistic is wrong and better say ‘simply’ accusatory of others. Autocratic followers do not practice rationality. That is too difficult and takes labored consideration. Autocratic followers are lazy thinkers.

With that set up as Ms. Applebaum’s analytical measuring tool, that the autocratic follower is a languid vaunter, her commentary on why each has given up on conservatism for totalitarianism by her former co-conservatives, makes for truly fun reading. Ms. Applebaum pulls no punches. Short read. Fun read. Especially if you think certain conservatives, are hypocrites. They are and Ms. Applebaum proves it.

A poignant book for our globally turbulent times

Applebaum lays out the history of the democratic struggle over the last few centuries very clearly in this book. A compelling and cautionary tale of where we have been and where we may yet be headed again as the pull towards nationalistic thinking takes root across the globe. Perhaps more works such as this will spark alternative thinking and help us avoid the pitfalls of the past.

Informative

The book clearly identifies the schizophrenic nature of human behavior. Long held values and principles are compromised the closer one gets to power.

New authoritarian regimes under the microscope

I have been waiting for this book for years and years and now that I went through it, he ing is incredible. It is one of those cases when you find an author that can tell the story you have inside of you so eloquently and so intelligently, that you are bound to feel grateful.

And despite the gloomy title, this book is filled with hope, the hope that once we can understand authoritarianism we can deal with it.

One of the best books I’ve ever read on the topic

Absolutely excellent Well balanced and very insightful covering a variety of countries and political systems as well as epochs