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.
