
Autocracy, Inc.
The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
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Narrated by:
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Anne Applebaum
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By:
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Anne Applebaum
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the Pulitzer-prize winning author, an alarming account of how autocracies work together to undermine the democratic world, and how we should organize to defeat them
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Economist, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, The Times
"A masterful guide to the new age of authoritarianism... clear-sighted and fearless.”—John Simpson, The Guardian • "Especially timely."—The Washington Post
We think we know what an autocratic state looks like: There is an all-powerful leader at the top. He controls the police. The police threaten the people with violence. There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents.
But in the 21st century, that bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are underpinned not by one dictator, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional propagandists, all of which operate across multiple regimes, from China to Russia to Iran. Corrupt companies in one country do business with corrupt companies in another. The police in one country can arm and train the police in another, and propagandists share resources and themes, pounding home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America.
International condemnation and economic sanctions cannot move the autocrats. Even popular opposition movements, from Venezuela to Hong Kong to Moscow, don't stand a chance. The members of Autocracy, Inc, aren't linked by a unifying ideology, like communism, but rather a common desire for power, wealth, and impunity. In this urgent treatise, which evokes George Kennan's essay calling for "containment" of the Soviet Union, Anne Applebaum calls for the democracies to fundamentally reorient their policies to fight a new kind of threat.
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
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“[An] excellent book. . . . a call to arms to defend our societies.”—Financial Times
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- By: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 26 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union to its surprise and delight found itself in control of a huge swath of territory in Eastern Europe. Stalin and his secret police set out to convert a dozen radically different countries to Communism, a completely new political and moral system. In Iron Curtain, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anne Applebaum describes how the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe were created and what daily life was like once they were complete.
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Important story, imperfectly executed
- By jackifus on 12-08-12
By: Anne Applebaum
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Surviving Autocracy
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In the run-up to the 2016 election, Masha Gessen stood out from other journalists for the ability to convey the ominous significance of Donald Trump's speech and behavior, unprecedented in a national candidate. Within 48 hours of Trump's victory, the essay "Autocracy: Rules for Survival" had gone viral, and Gessen's coverage of Trump's norm-smashing presidency became essential reading for a citizenry struggling to wrap their heads around the unimaginable.
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Good But . . .
- By A reviewer on 06-02-20
By: Masha Gessen
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On Tyranny
- Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
- Length: 1 hr and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.
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History does not repeat, but it does instruct.
- By Darwin8u on 11-19-18
By: Timothy Snyder
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The Road to Unfreedom
- Russia, Europe, America
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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With the end of the Cold War, the victory of liberal democracy was thought to be absolute. Observers declared the end of history, confident in a peaceful, globalized future. But we now know this to be premature. Authoritarianism first returned in Russia, as Putin developed a political system dedicated solely to the consolidation and exercise of power. In the last six years, it has creeped from east to west as nationalism inflames Europe, abetted by Russian propaganda and cyberwarfare.
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A Key Understanding of Modern Politics
- By Richard Keohane on 04-08-18
By: Timothy Snyder
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Red Famine
- Stalin's War on Ukraine
- By: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1929 Stalin launched his policy of agricultural collectivization - in effect a second Russian Revolution - which forced millions of peasants off their land and onto collective farms. The result was a catastrophic famine, the most lethal in European history. At least five million people died between 1931 and 1933 in the USSR. But instead of sending relief, the Soviet state made use of the catastrophe to rid itself of a political problem.
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Horrifying
- By Mendy on 01-21-18
By: Anne Applebaum
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Strongmen
- Mussolini to the Present
- By: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
- Narrated by: Chloe Cannon
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Ruth Ben-Ghiat is the expert on the "strongman" playbook employed by authoritarian demagogues from Mussolini to Putin. In Strongmen, she lays bare the blueprint these leaders have followed over the past 100 years, and empowers us to recognize, resist, and prevent their disastrous rule in the future.
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Fascism expert talks fascism
- By sparky on 12-04-20
By: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
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How Democracies Die
- By: Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Democracies can die with a coup d'état - or they can die slowly. This happens most deceptively when in piecemeal fashion, with the election of an authoritarian leader, the abuse of governmental power and the complete repression of opposition. All three steps are being taken around the world - not least with the election of Donald Trump - and we must all understand how we can stop them.
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Connecting the Dots
- By Sharon F on 02-06-18
By: Steven Levitsky, and others
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Ministry of Truth
- Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past
- By: Steve Benen
- Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
- Length: 5 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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For as long as historical records have existed, authoritarian regimes have tried to rewrite history to suit their purposes, using their dictatorial powers to create myths, spread propaganda, justify decisions, erase opponents, and even dispose of crimes. Today, as America’s Republican Party becomes increasingly radicalized, it’s not surprising to see the GOP read from a similarly despotic script. Indeed, the party is taking dangerous, aggressive steps to rewrite history—and not just from generations past.
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Reinforced long held suspicions
- By Dennis M Olson Jr on 08-18-24
By: Steve Benen
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Money, Lies, and God
- Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy
- By: Katherine Stewart
- Narrated by: Patricia Rodriguez
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Why have so many Americans turned against democracy? In this deeply reported book, Katherine Stewart takes us to conferences of conspiracy-mongers, backroom strategy gatherings, and services at extremist churches, and profiles the people who want to tear it all down.
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Describes a well funded international fascist cult
- By marwalk on 03-24-25
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Minority Rule
- The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People - and the Fight to Resist It
- By: Ari Berman
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, represented an extreme form of the central danger facing American democracy today: a blatant disregard for the will of the majority. Through voter suppression, election subversion, gerrymandering, dark money, the takeover of the courts, and the whitewashing of history, reactionary white conservatives have strategically entrenched power in the face of a massive demographic and political shift.
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SO much great information!
- By CharlieSeymourJr on 05-01-24
By: Ari Berman
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Attack from Within
- How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America
- By: Barbara McQuade
- Narrated by: Barbara McQuade
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Disinformation is designed to evoke a strong emotional response to push us toward more extreme views, unable to find common ground with others. The false claims that led to the breathtaking attack on our Capitol in 2020 may have been only a dress rehearsal. Attack from Within shows us how to prevent it from happening again, thus preserving our country's hard-won democracy.
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Trump bashing
- By joseph clayson on 03-09-24
By: Barbara McQuade
A cogent analysis of the global threats to the liberal world order
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Anne Applebaum did OK narrating but still I would prefer that writers leave the narration to professional narrators. It’s hard enough to stay focused on non-fiction that is professionally narrated and non professionals can sometimes be less interesting.
Timely warnings
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Knowledge of topic
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Persuasive/passionate
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Clear assessment of world situation
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Autocracy and the coordinated dangers
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Clear and concise
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The new world order
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work, especially now that Donald Trump is back as US president and behaving like the malevolent dictator he has always wanted to be. It was eye-opening to me how autocracies form networks, so we can only hope that Trump's hatred of China, Iran and North Korea (though not of Russia) might help save the US from losing its democracy entirely. One problem with this audiobook is Ms Applebaum's rapid-fire delivery, probably forced upon her. (She narrates more slowly in one other work I've heard.) Highly recommended all the same.
Applebaum on Autocracy
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Both historical and contemporary analysis
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