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.
