Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism

Anne Applebaum

Jul 2020 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Anne Applebaum

About this audiobook

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.

Ratings and reviews

A compelling and personal account of the "invasion of the body snatchers" style takeover of the centrist right by radical, anti-democratic extremists. The author is rightly appalled. For my money, this book doesn't go far enough in addressing how the moderate right gave birth to the dangerous forces that have consumed it.

The best book on how societies fracture, and how demagoguery exacerbates these divisions. Drawing from her experiences living in Poland, the UK, and the United States, Anne Applebaum utilizes her skilled prose in distinguishing what makes a democracy function, and what it takes for people to lose their faith, reasoning, history, and common purpose by putting it in the hands of flawed authoritarian leaders. A really incredible book.

I appreciate being able to preview the publications in both the print and audiobook versions before purchase.