a book

Twilight of Democracy

Name: Twilight of Democracy
Rating: 5 (8 reviews)
Author: Anne Applebaum
ISBN: 9780385545808

Anne Applebaum · 2020 · 224 pages

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.

recommended by 8 people

sourced from public statements

Barack Obama
“As 2020 comes to a close, I wanted to share my annual lists of favorites. I’ll start by sharing my favorite books this year. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I did.”↗
Jay Rosen
“@hinesalmy @TimAlberta I recommend this book to you. By @anneapplebaum”↗
Roger Bennett
“The book which helped me best understand the tectonic plates shifting in the world around us”↗
Joe Scarborough
“No book better describes our political times than @anneapplebaum’s “Twilight of Democracy”. Her insights on the rise of soft authoritarianism in the West are crucial. As a conservative shaped by the Cold War, it was distressing to read of her subjects’ shameless hypocrisy.”↗
Nigella Lawson
Larry Sabato
Sophie Roell
Yascha Mounk