TWILIGHT OF DEMOCRACY

AUTHORITARIANISM explores, at a granular level, the attraction of new authoritarian movements to people living in democracies.

What do these movements offer? How do they help people advance? To which instincts do they appeal? Why have they emerged right now? The book contains some new reporting, from Spain, Switzerland and Brazil. It looks at some historical examples, at other societies seduced by authoritarian rhetoric, including Stalinist central Europe, as well as Nazi Germany. It also explores some related phenomenon: the modern conspiracy theory, polarization and its impact, meritocracy and its discontents. But the most important focus is on the seduction of totalitarian thinking and the appeal of the one-party state. Anne Applebaum is a historian and journalist. She is a regular columnist for the Washington Post and a Professor of Practice at the London School of Economics, where she runs Arena, a program dedicated to disinformation and 21st century propaganda. She is the author of several books, including GULAG:A HISTORY which won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction and IRON CURTAIN which won the 2013 Cundill Prize for Historical Literature, both of which were nominated for the National Book Award. She is also the author of BETWEEN EAST AND WEST, a travelogue published in 1993 and recently reprinted, as well as the co-author of a Polish cookbook. See also https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/poland-polarization/568324/